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AD.  XVI 


THE  GENIUS  OF 
J.  M.W.TURNER,  R.A. 


Edited  by  Charles  Holme 


OFFICES  OF  CTHE  STVDIO',  LONDON 
PARIS,  AND  NEW  YORK  MCMIII 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


In  the  following  pages  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  gather  together 
from  numerous  sources  a  representative  selection  of  the  drawings, 
paintings,  and  engravings  of  J.  M.  W.  Turner.  The  examples 
chosen  for  reproduction  show  the  work  of  the  great  master  in  all 
the  different  periods  of  his  artistic  career. 

The  Water-Colours  extend  from  Turner's  twelfth  year  to  his 
latest  period.  The  monochromes  range  from  the  earliest  Alpine 
studies,  through  the  brown  drawings  made  for  "  Liber  Studiorum," 
and  onward  to  the  Roman  pencil  sketches.  The  Oil-Painting 
Section  starts  with  the  Diploma  Picture,  1800,  and  ends  with  the 
Mercury  sent  to  Admonish  Aeneas^  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy 
the  year  before  Turner's  death.  The  plates  from  "  Liber  Studiorum," 
reproduced  in  facsimile,  represent  sixteen  of  the  most  interesting  and 
valuable  proofs  in  the  famed  collection  of  Mr.  W.  G.  Rawlinson  ; 
while  the  engravings  after  Turner  not  only  recall  to  mind  some  of 
the  artist's  most  elaborate  water-colours,  but  show  the  astonishing 
expertness  of  the  engravers  whose  art  Turner  moulded  to  the  pecu- 
liarities of  his  own  style. 

The  Editor  returns  grateful  thanks  to  Sir  Edwin  Durning- 
Lawrence,  Bart.,  M.P.,  Mr.  W.  G.  Rawlinson,  Mr.  H.  H.  Turner, 
Mr.  James  Orrock,  R.I.,  Mr.  H.  Darell-Brown,  Mr.  Gerald  Robinson, 
Sir  Frederick  L.  Cook,  Bart.,  M.P.,  Mr.  C.  Mallord  W.  Turner, 
Mr.  Arthur  Samuel,  and  to  Mr.  George  E.  Blood,  whose  loan  ot 
some  superb  copies  of  Turner's  Water-Colours — executed  with 
extraordinary  skill  by  the  late  Mrs.  Blood — helped  the  engravers 
materially.  Acknowledgments  are  also  due  to  Mr.  George  Allen, 
who  courteously  lent  for  reproduction  some  of  the  best  photographs 
taken  for  the  beautiful  volumes  on  "Turner  and  Ruskin,"  and 
to  the  Autotype  Company,  New  Oxford  Street,  London,  for  the 
photographs  kindly  placed  at  the  Editor's  disposal. 


LIST  OF  SPECIAL  PLATES 


SPECIAL  PLATES  IN  COLOUR 


Early  Portrait  in  Oil-Colours  of  J.  M.  W.  Turner 

"  A  Heath  Scene  " 

"  A  Storm  in  the  Mountains  " 

"A  Sea-piece" 

"  Old  Houses,  Shrewsbury  " 

"  Frigates  and  Fishing-Boats  in  the  Medway  " 

"  A  Composition  " 

"  Richmond  " 

"  Brougham  Castle,  Lowther  " 

"  Mouth  of  the  Humber  " 

"  Stangate  Creek,  on  the  Medway  " 

"  Arundel  Castle,  on  the  River  Arun  " 

"  Chateau  d  Arc  " 

"  Cologne  " 

"  Ehrenbreitstein  " 

"  Study  on  the  Rhine  " 


Frontispiece 
Facing  O 


IV 

O  viii 
o  xii 
M  w  iv 
m  w  viii 


w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 


11 
iv 
vi 
viii 
5 

10 


w 14-15 

W  22 

w  28 
w 33-34 


SPECIAL  PLATES  IN  FACSIMILE 

Letter  from  Turner  to  his  Father 
Portrait  of  J.  M.  W.  Turner,  R.A. 


Between  o  ii  &  O  iii 
Facing  M  W  i 


SPECIAL  PLATES  AFTER  "  LIBER  STUDIORUM  " 
PROOFS  (Section  D) 

"  Ships  in  a  Breeze,"  or  "  The  Egremont  Sea-piece  "  l  s 

"  The  Bridge  in  Middle  Distance  "  l  s 

«  Hind  Head  Hill  "  l  s 

"  Crypt  of  Kirkstall  Abbey  "  l  s 

"  Rispah  "  l  s 

"  Procris  and  Cephalus"  l  s 

"  Norham  Castle  on  the  Tweed  "  l  s 

"  Raglan  Castle  "  l  s  8 

"Solway  Moss"  l  s  9 

"Solway  Moss"  l  s  10 

"  The  Source  of  the  Arveiron  "  ls  ii 

"Ben  Arthur,  Scotland  "  ls  12 

"  jflEsacus  and  Hesperie  "  l  s  13 

"  The  Stork  and  Aqueduct,"  or  "  The  Heron's  Pool  "                        ls  14 

"  Crowhurst,  Sussex — Early  Snow  "  l  s  1 5 

*  The  Swiss  Bridge,  Mont  St.  Gothard  "  l  s  16 


1 
2 

3 

4 

5 
6 

7 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Section  A. — Oil-Paintings. 

1.  "Dolbadern  Castle,  North 
Wales  "  o  I 

2.  "  The  Fifth  Plague  of 

Egypt "  02 

3.  "  The  Shipwreck "  o  3 

4.  "  Conway  Castle "  0  4 

5.  "  The  Death  of  Nelson, 
October  21,  1 805  "  0  5 

6.  "  The  Goddess  of  Discord 
in  the  Garden  of  the 


Hesperides  " 

0 

6 

7- 

"  Pilot  Hailing  a  Smack  in 

Stormy  Weather  " 

o 

7 

8. 

iC  TL    WT'    J      '11        A  T  1_  >> 

'*  I  he  Windmill  and  Lock 

o 

8 

9- 

"  Dido  .Building  Carthage 

o 

9 

10. 

"  Crossing  the  Brook 

o 

IO 

1 1. 

"  I  he  Bay  or  Baiae,  with 

ripono  ano  tne  oidvi 

o 

1 1 

12. 

"  Ulysses  deriding  Poly- 

phemus " 

o 

1  2 

13- 

"  Vessel  in  Distress  off 

Yarmouth  " 

o 

*3 

14. 

"  London,  from 

Greenwich  " 

o 

14 

15- 

"  Venice  :  Canaletti 

Painting  " 

o 

16. 

"  Childe  Harold's 

Pilgrimage — Italy  " 

o 

16 

17- 

"  Agrippina  Landing  with 

the  Ashes  of  Germanicus  " 

o 

17 

18. 

"  A  Harvest  Home  " 

o 

18 

19. 

"The  Fighting  Temeraire" 

o 

*9 

20. 

"  The  '  Sun  of  Venice  ' 

going  to  Sea  " 

o 

20 

21. 

"  Approach  to  Venice  " 

o 

21 

22. 

"Mercury  sent  to  admonish 

iEneas  " 

o 

22 

23- 

"Rain,  Steam,  and  Speed" 

o 

23 

Section  B. — Monochromes  and 
Early  Water-Colours 

24.  "Folly  Bridge  and  Bacon's 

Tower,  Oxford "  m  w  I 


0  r 

25. 

xi-ipinc  JL«anubca.pc 
jl  intern  ixuucy 

M  W 

Z 

J.O. 

M  W 

3 

"  T  inrnln  In  l"h  pn  ru  1  ' 

Vf  w 

IVl     T  T 

A 

4 

—  (J  . 

' *  Tnp  K  i  tr  n  p  n  in  Ivl  n tn Pti 

T    1  *"»            o  v\  /■  1        1  *i  l      v-\  O 

-L.anej  anu  1  urner  b 
Mnrher  "  (A 

M  VV 

5 

9  O 

"A  Waterfall" 

M  W 

6 

"  \A/a  rlc  worth  Castle 

^Vf/"i  f  f"  h  1 1  VV*  1"\^  I*  1 1  fl 

i\  orniuin  Derianu 

M  W 

1 

31- 

i  t    [J-i  t>c              ^l^an  POP  f 

x  ass  or  oiencoe     i :  i 

M  W 

Q 
0 

32- 

v  lew  or  LiULn 

c yne    (  r  ) 

M  VV 

9 

33- 

I  I1C  JUUiLC  VI  LI1C 

iirveiron 

M  W 

IO 

34- 

ocuQy  or  a  jow 

M  W 

T  T 

35- 

ucuciy  or  d  vow 

M  W 

T  O 

3°- 

'  '  ^  f"  i  i  r"i  T  7    /^\  ^*  o     C  tiro  t*l  " 

OLuciy  or  d.  owdn 

M  W 

13 

37- 

Ha n trance  to  ine 

v^narcreube 

M  W 

38. 

"  Pace  nf          Cinth^rA  " 

rabs  or  ol.  vjotnaru 

M  W 

x  r 

l5 

39- 

C  i     1    1*^        T  ^  t-i  i  / 1 1  '  o    1-2  i*i              '  ' 

i  ne  j_vevu  b  unuge 

M  W 

T  ^ 
I  O 

40. 

JJilUyCb  Ol   LI1C  KJl  dllUC 

\_nartreuse 

M  W 

A  T 

"  The  T  ittle  Church  of 

Ol,  Jr±iiiiiL)cr 

M  W 

T  8 

1  0 

A  O 

42. 

M  W 

T  A 

43- 

"  The  Town  of 

Grenoble  " 

M  W 

20 

44. 

"  Near  the  Grande 

Chartreuse  " 

M  W 

2 1 

a  r 

45- 

"  Cascade  of  the 

Chartreuse  " 

M  W 

22 

40. 

"  The  Devil's  Bridge  " 

M  W 

23 

47- 

"  Chamonix,  Mer  de 

Gla-e  " 

M  W 

24. 

48. 

"  Rome  :  Stone  Pines  on 

Monte  Mario  " 

M  W 

25 

49- 

"  Grenoble,  with  Mont 

Blanc  " 

M  W 

26 

50. 

"  Above  Amsteg4  on  the 

Pass  of  St.  Gothard  " 

M  W 

27 

51- 

"  Holy  Island 

Cathedral" 

M  W 

28 

52. 

"  Macon  " 

M  W 

29 

53-  "  View  of  Rome  from 

Monte  Mario  "  m  w  30 

54.  "  The  Grande 

Chartreuse  "  mw  31 

55.  "A  Pilot  Boat"  m  w  32 

56.  "  The  Colosseum,  Rome"  m  w  33 

57.  "  Sheep  "  m  w  34 

58.  "General  View  of  Rome"  m  w  35 

59.  "  Inverary  Castle  and 

Town"  mw  36 

60.  "Sportsmen  in  a  Wood"  mw  37 

Section  C. — The  Later 
Water-Colours. 

61.  "  Pembroke  Castle — a 
Thunderstorm  Clearing 

up "  w  1 

62.  "  Bonneville,  Savoy "  w  2 

63.  "French  Dance  in  Sabots"  w  3 

64.  "  A  Park  Scene  "  w  4 

65.  "  Valley  of  Chamonix  "  w  5 

66.  "  Studies  of  Fish  "  w  6 

67.  "  Study  of  a  Teal  Flying  w  7 

68.  "  Lancaster  Sands "  w  8 

69.  "  Newcastle-on-Tyne  w  9 

70.  "Sooneck  and  Bacharach"  w  10 

71.  "  Johannisberg  "  w  11 

72.  "  Farnley,  from  Otley  "  w  12 

73.  "Scarborough"  w  13 

74.  "  More  Park,  on  the  River 
Colne  "  w  1 4 

75.  "  Totness,  on  the  River 

Dart  "  w  1 5 

76.  "  Whitby  "  w  16 

77.  "  Okehampton  Castle  "  w  17 

78.  "Portsmouth"  w  18 

79.  "  Sheerness  "  w  19 

80.  "  Tivoli  :  the  Town  with 

its  Cascades  "  w  20 

81.  "  St.  Maurice  "  w  21 

82.  "Keswick  Lake,  Cumber- 

land "  w  2  2 

83.  Rouen,  looking  down 

River  "  w  23 

84.  "Paris  :  the  Pont  Neuf "  w  24 

85.  "  Harfleur  "  w  25 

86.  "  Between  Quillebceuf  and 
Villequier  "  w  26 


87.  "  St.  Germain  "  w  27 

88.  "  The  Chain  Bridge  over 

the  Tees  "  w  28 

89.  "  Study  of  a  Church, 

Tours  "  w  29 

90.  "  St.  Denis  "  w  30 

91.  "Paris  :  Hotel  de  Ville 

and  Pont  d'Arcole  "  w  31 

92.  "  Llanberis  Lake  "  w  32 

93.  "Rouen  "  w  33 

94.  "  Paris  :  the  Flower 
Market  and  the  Pont  au 
Change  "  w  34 

95.  "  Chateau  Gaillard  from 

the  East  "  w  3  5 

96.  "Honfleur"  w  36 

97.  "  Arth,  from  the  Lake  of 
Zug"  w  37 

98.  "  Luxembourg  "  (?)  w  38 

99.  "Bridge  and  Alpine 

Pass"  w  39 

100.  "  Drachenfels  "  w  40 

101.  "  Luxembourg  "  (?)  w  41 

102.  "  Coblentz  :  Bridge  on 

the  Moselle  "  w  42 

103.  "  Venice  :  Entrance  to 

the  Grand  Canal  "  w  43 

104.  "Goldau:  Lake  of  Zug 

in  the  Distance  "  w  44 

105.  "Pass  of  St.  Gothard,  near 
Faido"  w  45 

106.  "Venice:  the  Grand 
Canal,  looking  back  to  the 
Salute  "  w  46 

Section  E.— Engravings  after 
Turner. 

107.  "Pope's  Villa,  Twicken- 
ham "  EI 

108.  "  The  Mew  Stone,  at  the 
Entrance  of  Plymouth 

Sound "  E  2 

109.  "  Brightling  Observatory, 
from  Rosehill  Park  "  e  3 

1 10.  "  Hardraw  Fall,  Rich- 
mond, Yorkshire "  e  4 

111.  "Kirkby  Lonsdale  Church- 
yard" e  5 


U2.  "  Merrick  Abbey,  Swale  1 1 8.  "  Clairmont  "  e  12 

dale"  e  6  119.  "  Scene  on  the  Loire "  e  13 

113.  "  Cascade  of  Terni "  e  7  120.  "Melrose"  e  14 

114.  "Colchester"  e  8  121.  "Nineveh"  e  15 

115.  "  Lancaster  Sands "  e  9  122.  "Jumieges"  e  16 

116.  "  Richmond,  Yorkshire  "  e  10  123.  "  Durham  Cathedral"  e  17 

117.  "  Alnwick  Castle,  124.  "  Llanthony  Abbey,  Mon- 
Northumberland "  e  11           mouthshire "  #  e  1 8 


ESSAYS 

"  The  Oil-Paintings  of  Turner."    Written  by  Robert  de  la  Sizeranne. 

"Turner's  Monochromes  and  Early  Water- Col  ours."  Written  by  Walter 
Shaw  Sparrow. 

"  The  Later  Water-Colours."  Written  bv  Walter  Shaw  Sparrow. 

Turner  and  his  Engravers."  Written  by  C.  F.  Bell. 

9 


*  Erratum. — The  date  1836  in  the  headline  should  be  omitted 


Publications  du  Studio 

NUMERO  D'HIVER  1903-1904 


Turner 


Sommairc 

LE  GENIE  DE  TURNER,  par  M.  Robert  de  la 

SlZERANNE  ...>..*,  I 

LES  MONOCHROMES  ET  LES  PREMIERES  AQUA- 
RELLES, par  M.  Walter  Shaw  Sparrow  .  .  9 
LES  DERNlERES  AQUARELLES  DE  TURNER,  par 

M.  Walter  Shaw  Sparrow   12 

TURNER  ET  SES  GRAVEURS,  par  M.  Bell.  .  15 

LISTE  DES  HORS  TEXTE   24 

LISTE  DES  ILLUSTRATIONS   25 


LE  GENIE  DE  TURNER.  PAR  M.  RO- 
BERT DE  LA  SlZERANNE. 

Tout  essai  d'art  nouveau  est  un  retour  a  la  nature.  Et 
toute  realisation  d'art  puissante  est  une  transposition  de  la 
nature.  Chaque  fois  qu'un  g£nie  original  apparait,  il  va  pui- 
ser  dans  la  nature  quelque  verite  oubliee  des  ecoles  prece- 
dentes.Par  la,  il  apparait  toujours  comme  un  realiste.et  il 
Test  en  effet,  sur  un  point :  sur  le  point  ou  ses  predecesseurs 
immediats  ne  l'^taient  pas.  Mais  cette  nature  qu'il  a  remise 
en  honneur,  il  la  transpose.  A  force  de  la  transposer,  il  l'ou- 
blie.  Et  la  meme  ecole  qui  a  du  sa  naissance  a  un  retour  a 
la  nature,  qui  a  du  sa  puissance  a  une  transposition  de  la 
nature,  doit  sa  decadence  et  sa  fin  a  Voubli  de  la  nature. 
Ainsi  le  meme  novateur  parait  plutot  realiste  a  ceux  quile 
precedent  et  plutdt  idealiste  a  ceux  qui  le  suivent.  Et  les  deux 
opinions  sont  justes,  parce  que  les  maitres,  tout  en  restant 
fideles  a  la  nature  sur  le  point  particulier  oil  ils  Font 
retrouvee,  la  transposent  sur  les  autres.  Ils  ne  croient  pas 
la  transformer.  Ils  se  croient  toujours  realisies,  —  comme 
on  se  croit  toujours  jeune...  Ils  croient  tous,  de  bonne  foi, 
peindre  le  caillou  qui  est  a  leurs  pieds  et  la  fiaque  d'eau 
que  ramasse  1'orniere  du  chemin,  et  ils  peignent  tous  une 
pierre  precieuse  que  personne  ne  voit  a  leurs  pieds  et  un 
ciel  que  nul  n'a  vu  sur  leurs  tetes.  —  Ceci  est  l'histoire  de 
tous  les  maitres  vraiment  originaux  et  p'.iissants,  de  toutes 
les  ecoles  qui  ont  renouvele  1'art,  depuis  les  renaissants, 
jusqu'aux  impressionnistes.  C'est  vrai  de  Corot  comme 
d'Ingres,  de  Millet  comme  de  Watteau,  de  Rembrandt 
comme  de  Michel- Ange.  Mais  d'aucun  maitre,  pcut-etre,  ce 


n'est  si  vrai  que  de  ce  fils  de  barbier  qui  rcndit  celebre  le 
nom  de  Turner. 

Chez  aucun,  il  n'est  difficile  a  ce  point,  de  demeler  dans 
quelle  mesure  son  art  nous  touche  en  ce  qu'il  nous  fait 
dire  :  «  J'ai  vu  cela  !  »  ou  dans  quelle  meiure  il  nous  fait 
dire  :  «  Comme  je  voudrais  le  voir!  »,  ni  quelle  sorte 
de  transformation  s'operait  dans  son  imagination  et 
sous  sa  main,  pour  que  de  tclles  ceuvres  fussent  possibles. 
C'est  pourquoi  il  est  si  difficile  de  dire  ce  qu'est  au  juste 
le  genie  de  Turner. 

I 

Pour  cela,  quelles  ceuvres  faut-il  considerer?  Le  plus 
possible.  Les  turneristes  comptent  cinq,  six  et  jusqu'a  sept 
«  manieres  »  de  Turner.  C'est  trop  ou  ce  n'est  pas  assez. 
En  un  sens,  Turner  a  eu  presque  autant  de  «  manieres  » 
qu'il  a  peint  de  tableaux,  ou  au  moins  de  sujets.  Car  il  a 
constamment  cherche,  pour  tout  effet  different,  une  difTe- 
rente  facture  et  indefiniment  tente  de  se  renouveler.  II  a 
epuise  la  s^rie  des  stratagemes,  des  huiles,  des  mediums, 
des  brosses,  ou  du  couteau  a  palette,  poursuivant  ses 
tableaux  jusqu'au  Sa/ou,  profitant  des  varnishing  days 
pour  les  transformer  parfoisde  fond  en  comble,  lestheignant 
ou  les  empourprant  tour  a  tour,  selon  qu'ils  trancliaient 
trop  sur  leurs  voisins  ou  ne  s'en  distinguaient  pas  assez  ; 
enfin,  desespere  de  ne  pouvoir  etendre  ses  couleurs  a 
l'huile,  comme  il  faisait  cellcsa  l'eau,il  a  franchi  hardiment 
les  limites  de  son  art  et,  a  ses  fonds  peints  a  l'huile  il  a 
superpose  des  details  peints  a  l'aquarelle  dans  une  propor- 
tion impossible,  sous  peine  de  les  detruire,  abien  distinguer. 
—  Si,  done,  on  entend  par  «  manieres  »  toutes  les  varie- 
ty d'execution  qu'on  peut  observer  d'une  ceuvre  al'autre, 
ce  n'est  plus  en  six  ou  sept  manieres  qu'il  faudrait  repartir 
les  275  toiles  les  plus  connues  de  Turner,  mais  en  une 
foule  d'autres  encore  a  decouvrir  et  a  noter  indefiniment. 
De  plus,  ces  variations  ne  sont  pas  necessairement  succes- 
sives,  de  telle  sorte  qu'on  les  puisse  classer  chronolo- 
giquement  Elles  sont  souvent  conconiitantes.  Elles  varient 
non  selon  les  annees,  mais  selon  les  sujets.  Ainsi,  des 
1802  (regardez  son  Conicay-Castl >),  s'il  peint  des  eaux  et 
des  plages,  ses  premiers  plans  sont  simples,  clairs,  debar- 
rasses  du  bmeiix  «  repoussoir  »  npiii  qui  avait  eie  jusque- 
la   relement  primordial  du  paysage  classique.   El,  au 
contraire,  s'il  peint  au  premier  plan  des  terrains  et  desarbres, 

•  1 


Numero  d'Hiver  du  STUDIO,  1903-1904 


Le  Genie  de  Turner 


ils  sont  encore  composes  en  1823  (regardezsa  Bay  of  Baiae) 
et  jusqu'en  1832  (regardez  son  Pel erinagedeCbilde  Harold) 
et  soigneusement  pourvus  du  classiquerepoussoir.  —  Autre 
exemple  :  des  le  debut  de  sa  carriere,  il  dessine  avec  la 
plus  rare  justesse,  les  barques,  leurs  courbes,  leurs  raccourcis 
et  cependant  jusqu'a  la  fin,  il  traitera  ses  arbres  selon  les 
plus  banales  des  conventions  academiques  (voyez  les  pins 
dans  les  deux  paysages  precites  et  l'arbre  gigantesque  dans 
Crossing  the  brook).  II  imagine  les  pins  beaucoup  plus 
elances  qu'ils  ne  sontenrealite,beaucoupplusgeometriques, 
depouilles  de  branches  et  etendant  beaucoup  trop  haut 
pour  les  tetes  humaines  Fironique  protection  de  leurs 
parasols.  —  Ses  «  manieres  »,  a  n'importe  quelle  periode 
que  nous  les  prenions,  varient  done  selon  Yobjet  qu'il  peint 
ou  l'experience  qu'il  veut  tenter.  Elles  sont  innombrables. 

Si,  au  contraire,  on  veut  seulement  parler  des  grandes 
evolutions  de  Turner,  aussi  marquees  chez  lui  que  sont, 
chez  Corot,  les  differences  entre  les  vues  de  Rome  et  les 
sous-bois  de  Ville-d'Avray,  on  trouve  alors  chez  le  maitre 
anglais  trois  manieres  parfaitement  distinctes :  premierement 
la  maniere  classique  et  wilsonienne,  qu'on  pourrak  aussi 
appeler  sa  «  maniere  francaise  »  ;  —  secondement,  la 
maniere  realiste  anglaise  ;  —  entin,  la  maniere  evocatrice 
ou  purement  turnerienne.  Elles  correspondent  a  trois  etapes 
de  la  pensee  humaine,  qui  sont  les  trois  etapes  de  l'Art  lui- 
meme  et,  transportees  dans  le  domaine  des  faits,  les  trois 
etapes  de  la  Vie.  Premiere  maniere:  la  nature comme  l'ont 
vue  les  maitres ;  seconde  maniere  :  la  nature  comme  il  la 
voit  lui-meme  ;  troisieme  maniere :  la  nature  comme  il 
vent  la  voir.  La  premiere  periode  est  celle  de  la  loi,  la 
seconde  celle  de  l'amour,  la  troisieme  celle  de  l'intelligence 
et  de  la  volonte.  Dans  l'une,  on  fait  de  Tart  en  admiration 
des  maitres;  dans  l'autre,  on  fait  de  l'art  en  admiration  de 
la  nature;  dans  la  derniere  on  fait  de  Yart  pour  /'art.  Dans 
la  premiere,  on  ne  croit  pas  pou  voir  se  passer  de  la  tradition 
pour  consulter  la  nature;  dans  la  seconde,  on  consulte  la 
nature  seuleet  directement;  dans  la  troisieme  on  croit  pou- 
voir  se  passer  de  la  nature  meme  :  on  tire  des  observations 
precedentes  une  serie  de  deductions  de  plus  en  plus  hasar- 
dees  et  Ton  etablit,  soi-meme,  ainsi,  les  fondements  d'une 
autre  tradition,  par  quelque  cote  conventionnelle.  Les  trois 
etapes  sont  normales  et  necessaires,  mais  e'est  la  seconde, 
celle  de  l'observation  directe,  qui  enrichit  le  patrimoine  de 
l'art  et  e'est  celle  qui  a  donne  a  Turner  toute  sa  puissance 
et  les  elements  de  son  originalite. 

II 

Cette  originalite  est  le  grand  trait  de  ses  oeuvres  et,  du 
premier  coup,  le  monde,  la  nature  et  la  vie  nous  apparais- 
sent  renouveles.  Quiconque  a  penetre  dans  la  Turner 
Gallery,  ou  a  1'exposition,  en  1899,  du  Guidhall,  ou  dans 
quelqu'une  de  ces  rares  et  my'sterieuses  collections  ou 
2 


Turner  est  visible  sur  le  continent,  en  est  ressorti  avec 
une  vision  des  choses  terrestres  a  ce  point  renouvelee  qu'il 
lui  a  semble  avoir  parcouru,  durant  une  heure,  une  pla- 
nete  inconnue... 

Une  mer  semee  d'archipels  en  pierres  precieuses,  des 
amphitheatres  de  palais  surgis  de  la  mer,  gardant  encore 
l'eclat  des  coraux  et  des  perles  dont  ils  sont  sortis, 
des  perrons  battus  sans  cesse  par  les  vagues,  qui  se  rou- 
lent  sur  les  seuils  des  palais  calines  comme  des  pantheres 
apprivoisees.  Une  Venise  immense,  dont  les  canaux  sont 
des  oceans,  dont  les  quartiers  sont  des  iles,  parmi  des 
eaux  mouvantes  et  claires,  —  voila  le  monde  pour  Turner. 

Et  si,  un  jour,  il  s'avise  de  peindre  un  chemin  de  fer, 
(voyez  son  «  Pluie,  vapcur  et  vitesse  »  son  chemin  de  fer 
meme  passe  sur  l'eau,  a  travers  une  trombe  d'eau,  dans 
une  telle  conflagration  liquide.  qu'on  dirait  une  illustra- 
tion de  la  Genese,  le  jour  oil  les  eaux  du  ciel  sont  d'avec 
les  eaux  de  la  terre  separees. 

Dans  ce  grand  cadre,  des  surprises  infinies  :  des  esca- 
liers,  qui  descendant  des  hautes  terrasses  en  tournoyant 
comme  des  oiseaux  qui  se  posent  et  qui,  descendus  a  la 
mer,  ne  s'arretent  pas,  s'enfoncent  sous  l'eau,  conduisent 
a  on  ne  sait  quel  aquatique  empire  et  a  quels  autres  palais 
sous-marins,  et  des  arbres  jaillissent  comme  des  jets  d'eau, 
verts,  rouges,  oranges,  jusqu'au  ciel.  Des  gondoles,  ser- 
rees  pres  des  palais,  en  troupeaux,  comme  de  petits  en- 
fants  qui  ont  peur,  ou  bien  isolees,  doublant  leur  come 
d'or  ou  de  pourpre  par  le  jeu  des  reflets.  Des  haies  de 
tartanes  alignant  les  futs  innombrables  de  leurs  colonnes 
ruinees,  des  haies  de  bateaux,  de  caravelles  melent  leurs 
reflets  qui  se  brouillent  et  se  battent  dans  l'eau.  Une  mul- 
titude de  choses  lourdes  et  somptueuses  qui  pendent  et 
qui  trempent  dans  un  fouillis  crasseux  et  multicolore.  Com- 
bien  de  Barbaresques  devines  dans  ces  cales,  de  Turcs, 
d'Algeriens  sous  ces  draperies  et  dans  ces  cordages !  Que 
d'armes  cachees,  de  richesses  volees,  de  fruits  juteux  et 
gates,  d'affreuses  marmelades !  Que  de  marmaille  nue, 
d'oranges  empilees,  de  grenades  entr'ouvertes,  de  detri- 
tus, de  bouts  de  legumes  qui  vaguent  et  qui  flottent  dans 
les  eaux  de  Venise  aux  approches  des  marches  le  matin  ! 
Et,  en  meme  temps,  quelle  ceuvre  de  joaillerie,  quelle 
savante  pyrotechnie,  quel  parterre  cultive  sur  la  Riviera 
vaudrait  ce  que  Turner  a  fait  de  tout  cela !  Rien  de  plus 
riche  a  l'ceil  est-il  jamais  sorti  des  mains  d'un  joaillier  ? 
Le  vert  poudre"  d'or  du  charancon  imperial,  le  vert  jaune 
du  bupreste,  le  bleu  du  papillon  du  Br^sil,  le  saphir  pro- 
fond  du  bousier,  l'emeraude  du  scarabee  sacre,  les  splen- 
deurs  de  la  cicindele  sont  visibles  dans  ces  taches  et  ces 
plaques  de  couleurs  lourdes  et  mysterieuses  comme  de 
vieux  vitraux.  «  Puisque  je  te  dis  que  ce  sont  des  ele- 
phants !  »  criait  un  jour  aux  oreilles  d' Alexandre  Dumas 
fils,  M.  Victorien  Sardou  en  contemplant  ces  gondoles ; 
—  et  il  evoquait  ainsi  toutes  les  splendeurs  des  Indes  dans 
cette  illusion.  Ce  sont,  en  effet,  desenigmes.  Turner  nous 


Le  Genie  de  Turner 


en  propose  a  chaque  instant.  «  Devine !  nous  dit-il. 
Devine!  »  Et  l'imagination  repart,  reconstruit  des  palais, 
reinvente  des  clochers  dans  des  campaniles  invisibles,  ima- 
gine des  multitudes  bigarrees  sur  les  terrasses  incertaines. 
Puis  1 'horizon  se  creuse  encore.  Qk  et  la,  jalonnant  l'es- 
pace,  un  pilier  entre  dans  l'eau  comme  un  arbre  et  s'y  en- 
fonce  comme  un  serpent.  Des  navires  se  suspendent  en- 
tre le  mouvant  canevas  de  la  rue  liquide  et  l'eventail 
infini  des  cieux.  Voici  l'horizon ;  le  soleil,  comme  un  roi 
qui  s'arrete  au  haut  d*un  perron  qu'il  va  descendre,  illu- 
mine tout  de  sa  presence  :  les  palais,  les  mats,  les  ruines 
et  son  reflet  descend,  de  vague  en  vague,  jusque  sur  la 
plage  comme  sur  les  marches  incertaines  et  mouvantes 
d'un  escalier  d'azur,  Au-dessus,  les  nuees  trainant  leurs 
robes  fauves  qui  portent  ses  couleurs.  Le  ciel  respire  et 
l'eau  claque.  Des  bouees,  sur  leur  gros  ventre  rouge,  dan- 
sent  incessamment.  A  mesure  qu'il  s'approche  du  cadre 
le  systeme  des  nuages  se  developpe  ;  ils  s'espacent,  pren- 
nent  du  champ,  planent.  L'incendie  envahit  les  extremites 
de  la  toile  et,  tout  au  bord,  les  petites  nuees  blanches 
comme  des  gazes  suspendues  a  une  frise  d'OperaVommen- 
cent  a  prendre  feu. 

Dans  eel  infini  bleuatre,  a  peine  bleu,  balafre  de  nuees 
eparses  comme  de  la  soie  fluche,  on  eprouve  la  griserie 
de  l'espace  et,  peu  a  peu,  l'evjnouissement  dans  la 
lumiere.  Est-ce  Venise  ?  Est-ce  Carthage  ?  Est-ce  Cons- 
tantinople ou  Odeypore  ?  Le  campanile  a  peine  aper^u 
dans  le  ciel  pommele  blanc  et  bleu,  des  fantomes  d'ar- 
cades  conduisant  ;\  quelque  chose  qu'on  peut  itm^iner 
etre  l'hotel  Danieli,  —  cela  ne  suffit  pas  pour  nous  fixer. 
C'est  une  architecture  d'eaux  et  de  dels.  C'est  une  harmo- 
nie  tantot  avec  ladominante  rouge  de  grenade  tantot  avec 
la  dominante  citron  et  bleu  pale,  autour  desquelles  toutes 
les  symphonies  des  couleurs  sont  reunies. 

A  un  diner  auquel  Frith  assistait,  comme  on  offrait  de 
la  salade  a  Turner,  celui-ci  la  montra  a  son  voisin  qui  £tait 
lord  Overstone  et  lui  dit  :  «  Que  voyez-vous  la?  Un 
joli  vert  tendre  dans  cette  laitue,  n'est-ce  pas?  Et,  sur 
cette  betterave,  un  joli  rouge,  pas  tout  a  fait  assez  vif,  et 
dans  la  sauce,  une  delicate  teinte  de  jaune.  Ajoutez 
un  peu  de  moutarde  et  vous  avez  une  de  mes  pein- 
tures  !  »  —  C'est  bien  cela.  et  il  n'en  faut  pas  plus,  manie 
par  l'artiste,  pour  evoquer,  dans  les  imaginations,  un  monde 
ideal.  La  matiere  en  est  la  plus  precieuse  qu'on  puisse 
rever ;  indefinissable  comme  une  poussiere  de  pollen, 
imponderable  comme  un  rayon.  Le  pinceau,  leger  comme 
une  passe  magnetique,  semble  s'etre  promene  sur  la  toile 
de  mat  en  mat,  et,  de  clocher  en  clocher,  comme  une 
abeille  :  une  abeille  qui  se  poserait  sur  les  formes  non  sur 
des  fleurs,  et  non  pour  leur  enlever,  mais  pour  leur  don- 
ner  ce  qui  fait  tout  leur  prix  et  ce  qui  est  toute  leur  arae  : 
leur  couleur. 


Ill 

Devant  ces  tableaux,  souvent  on  entend  dire  :  «  Ce  n'est 
point  cette  ville,  ce  n'est  point  ce  fleuve,  ce  n'est  point  ce 
pays  et  pourtant  cela  donne  mieux  que  tout  autre  chose 
l'impression  de  cette  ville,  de  ce  fleuve,  de  ce  pays.  » 
Qu' est-ce  a  dire  ? 

Premierement,  ce  qui  fait  notre  impression  d'un  pays, 
d'une  ville,  d'un  paysage,  c'est  un  trait  dominant,  plus 
foriement  accentue  la  qu'ailleurs,  un  trait  nouveau  qui 
nous  delivre  des  conditions  habituelles  de  la  vie.  Une  ville 
semble  nager  sur  l'eau  :  Venise  ;  —  construite  avec  des 
joyaux  qui  resistent  aux  injures  du  temps  :  Florence; 
—  accroupie  et  endormie  sur  des  eaux  mortes  :  Bruges.  II  y 
a  bien  d'autres  traits  dans  ces  villes  et  qui  les  font  ressem- 
bler  a  toutes  les  villes  du  monde,  mais  ceux-la  seuls  font  que 
Venise  est  Venise,  que  Florence  est  Florence  et  Bruges, 
Bruges.  De  meme  pour  un  paysage  provencal:  la  structure 
meme  de  la  terre  y  apparait  par  de  grandes  lignes,  par  aretes, 
etle  globe  nous  semble  une  oeuvre  de  sculpture  ruinee,  oil 
quelques  herbes,  quelques  vegetations  parietaires  ont  pousse. 
Aux  environs  de  Paris,  par  un  belapres  midi  de  printemps, 
l'impression  est  un  papillotement,  un  crible  lumineux.  Par 
un  beau  soir  d'automne,  dans  le  centre  de  la  France,  une 
masse  de  forets  se  profile  sur  le  couchnnt  rouge,  en  ara- 
besques noires  comme  des  entrelacs  sur  l'or  d'un  missel. 

Notre  ame  s'etonne  de  ce  trait  nouveau,  saillant  par 
dessus  les  autres  et  heureuse  de  lire  plus  clairement  une  des 
notes  de  l'harmonie  universelle,  elle  desire  la  voir  £crite 
plus  encore,  definie  ou  soulignee  plus  profondement. 
L'artiste  survient.  11  tire  ce  trait  de  la  realite;  il  le  souligne, 
il  efface  les  autres  ou  les  attenue  et  de  ce  que  nos  sens  devi- 
naient  confinement  ou  entrevoyaient  a  peine,  il  fait  le 
trait  principal  de  son  ceuvre.  De  ce  paysage,  il  nc  nous  montre 
qu'une  chose  :  la  structure.  De  cet  autre,  qu'une  chose  :  le 
papillotement.  De  ce  troisieme  :  1'arabesque.  Tout  le  reste 
est  subordonne,  oublie,  disparu. 

Cette  sensation  dominante  devient  une  sensation  exclu- 
sive et  il  est  possible  qu'un  jour  elle  devienne  un  besoin. 
Des  lors,  l'artiste  ne  cherche  pas  a  faire  ce  qu'il  voil.  II 
cherche  a  faire  ce  qui  le  frappe  dans  ce  qu'il  voit  et  a  le  voir 
davantage  et  a  le  montrer  aux  autres  comme  la  seule  chose 
qu'on  y  puisse  voir  :  The  wish  is  father  to  the  thought . 
Dans  un  navire,  battu  par  la  tcmpete,  il  ne  subsiste  plus 
que  l'impression  de  fuite  eperdue  sous  le  vent  et  de  saut 
d'obstacles  :  les  mats  trop  penches,  le  dechainement  de 
l'atmosphere,  la  mer  demontee.  Dans  un  paysage  d'ltalie, 
il  ne  subsiste  plus  qu'une  impression  de  langueur  chaude 
et  doree,  une  immense  effluve  de  parfums  dans  le  ciel  et  de 
rayons  sur  la  terre,  dans  un  calme  et  un  silence  invioles. 

Ainsi.  ce  qui  fait  notre  impression  d'un  paysage 
c'est  un  trait  dominant.  Oui,  mais  cette  impression  n'est 
point  formee  seulement  des  temoignages  d'un  seul  sens. 
Sans  doute,  de  toutes  les  apercep'tions  d'un  pays,  c'est  celle 


Le  Genie  de  Turner 


de  la  vue  qui  est  la  plus  propre,  par  la  suite,  a  en  restituer 
le  souvenir.  Aussi,  griffonner  sur  un  album,  autrefois,  et 
aujourd'hui,  presser  sur  un  bouton  de  Kodak,  c'est  cequ'on 
appelle  «  emporter  un  souvenir  ».  On  n'a  jamais  eu  l'idee 
de  noter  les  bruits  d'une  ville,  d'un  port,  d'une  foret  pour 
se  les  rappeler,  —  ou  d'en  noter  les  odeurs  et  d'en 
donner  la  formule  a  son  parfumeur  pour  en  obtenir 
une  evocation.  Non,  l'impression  des  yeux  est  la  plus 
forte  :  la  reproduire  sera  le  mieux  reproduire  celles 
ressenties  par  tout  notre  etre  et  les  evoquer  a  nouveau 
dans  la  chambre  noire  de  nos  souvenirs.  Mais  cependant, 
pour  plus  forte  qu'elle  soit,  elle  n'est  pas  la  seule. 
Evoquez  une  nuit  d'ete  sur  le  Grand  Canal,  pres  duRialto, 
apres  une  excursion  aux  iles  ou  vers  la  haute  mer.  On 
entend  les  voix,  on  respire  les  parfums  :  des  fleurs  trainent 
dans  les  eaux,  les  refrains  trainent  dans  les  airs.  Les  vents 
paresseux  ne  suffisent  pas  a  charrier  les  parfums ;  les  odeurs 
du  marche  :  des  legumes;  du  port  :  du  goudron.  On 
eprouve  par  le  sens  tactile  le  flottement  du  vent  sur  la 
figure,  dans  les  cheveux  etle  balancement  des  vagues.  Tout 
cela  se  mele  inconsxiemment,  mais  profond^ment  a  l'im- 
pression visuelle  ressentie  et,  peu  a  peu,  les  sensations 
eprouvees  par  l'odorat,  l'ouie  et  le  toucher  conditionnent 
fortement  la  sensation  principale,  qui  est  celle  de  la 
vue.  Si,  done,  l'artiste  cree  une  ceuvre  plus  aigue,  plus 
penetrante  que  les  formes  percues  par  la  vue  seule,  ne  nous 
nitons  pas  de  dire  que  ce  sont  des  faux  temoignages  sur  la 
nature.  Peut-etre  l'impression  generale  en  sera-t-elle  ren- 
due  infiniment  mieux  que  par  une  exactitude  photogra- 
phique,  parce  que  cette  poetisation  intense,  obtenue  par  les 
moyens  qui  s'adressent  a  la  vue  :  la  peinture,  pourra  corres- 
ponds a  l'intense  poetisation  que  l'oui'e,  l'odorat  et  le 
toucher  ont  ajoutee  a  la  vue. 

Ces  eaux  faites  de  reflets,  ces  voiles  indistinctes  dans 
fair  et  melees  aux  nues,  ces  papillottements  infinis  qui 
divisent  en  mailles  serrees  la  surface  des  mers,  ces  dechi- 
rures  de  nuages  nous  donnent,  par  leur  exageration  et  leur 
accumulation,  la  sensation  du  vent  qui  souffle.  La  suspen- 
sion des  gondoles  entre  l'eau  et  le  ciel  nous  donne  l'im- 
pression du  Djinn  qui  : 

Sur  un  pied  danse, 
Au  bout  d'un  flot... 

L'eclat  extraordinaire  de  ces  brocarts,  de  ces  ors,  de  ces 
pierres  precieuses,  nous  rappelle  si  bien  les  monceaux  de 
fleurs  respires  a  Venise,  que  le  parfum  endormi  dans  notre 
m£moire  se  reveille  et  monte  jusqu'a  nous.  Enfin,  cette 
liberte  de  gestes,  cette  fantaisie  extraordinaire  de  palais  en- 
tasses  par  une  sortede  Piranese  maritime  evoque  la  sensation 
d'une  vie  chantante  et  voici  que  les  vieux  refrains  napo- 
litains,  repris  en  chceur  par  tous  les  marins  accroches 
dans  les  cordages,  bourdonnent  a  nos  oreilles.  Cet  aspect 
fantastique  de  Venise  n'est  pas  la  Venise  que  voient  les 
yeux  aussi  bien  qu'une  photographie  ou  qu'un  tableau 
4 


exact,  juste  de  ton,  nous  la  restituent  —  et  cependant, 
mieux  que  tout  au  monde,  c'est  ^impression  que  nous 
avons  de  Venise,  vue  avec  nos  yeux,  respiree avec  nos  pou- 
mons,  entendue  avec  nos  oreilles,  bue  pour  ainsi  dire  et 
absorbee  par  tous  nos  sens.  —  Et  c'est  l'ceuvre  de 
Turner. 

De  meme  l'impression  des  mers  du  Nord,  de  leurs  ports 
par  la  tempete  avec  cette  atmosphere  salee,  goudronnee, 
carbonifere,  et  en  meme  temps  froide,  humide  etcinglante, 
qui  en  peinture,  ne  peut  s'exprimer  que  par  la  represen- 
tation du  vent  ou,  en  general,  par  celle  de  l'atmosphere, 
e'est-a-dire  par  le  jeu  le  plus  complique  des  nuees,  qui  se 
dechirent  des  vapeurs  qui  flottent  et  des  voiles  qui  s'enflent, 
seuls  temoignages  visible  d'un  invisible  element. 

Rendre  tout  cela,  c'est  etre  non  pas  idealiste,  mais  natu- 
raliste,  quelle  que  soit  la  methode  qu'onait  employee.  Sans 
doute,  les  documents  de  Turner  etaient  peu  de  chose  : 
quarante  etudes  a  l'huile  seulement,  et  des  notes  innom- 
brables,  mais  prises  sur  des  bouts  de  papier  a  lettre, 
incoherentes,  <<  tout  a  fait  inintelligibles  pour  d'autres  que 
lui  «,  disait  Cyrus  Redding.  Mais,  pour  lui,  ce  document 
etait  plein  de  revelations.  Personne  autre  que  Turner  ne 
pouvait  s'en  servir,  mais,  s'en  servant,  il  peignait  plus  juste 
que  personne  autre.  «  Regardez,  disait-il  a  son  compagnon 
de  voyage,  regardez  bien  :  vous  reverrez  cela  un  jour,  mais 
sauvons-nous,  sauvons-nous,  1'effet  passe  !  »  Rentre  dans 
son  atelier  il  refaisait  le  paysage,  c'est  vrai,  mais  il  le  refai- 
sait  avec  des  morceaux  parfaitement  justesde  paysages  vus 
et  bien  vus. 

II  y  a  ainsi  deux  fa?ons  d'etre  naturaliste ;  faire  ce  que 
la  nature  a  realise,  ou  faire  ce  que  la  nature  peut  realiser, 
copier  ses  resultats  ou  s'inspirer  de  ses  lois.  Turner  ne 
peignit  peut-etre  pas  un  seul  de  ses  tableaux  entierement 
d'apres  nature  et  il  en  peignit  plusieurs  centaines  sans 
avoir  la  nature  devant  lui.  —  Est-ce  legitime  ?  Est-ce 
absurde?  Ne  serai t-ce  pas  quelquefois  necessaire  ?  Ici, 
il  faut  bien  distingutr.  Un  objet  qui  ne  change  pas  de 
forme  en  deux  ou  trois  heures  et  qui  ne  change  pas  de 
couleur  en  vingt  ou  trente  minutes,  qu'on  pourra  retrouver 
tous  les  jours,  ou  presque  tous  les  jours  a  la  meme  place, 
de  la  meme  couleur,  eclaire  de  la  meme  facon  :  un  arbre, 
une  maison,  un  rocher,  le  naturaliste  ne  peut  faire  mieux 
que  de  le  peindre  d'apres  nature,  depuis  la  premiere  touche 
jusqu'a  la  derniere,  selon  le  precepte  pose  par  Ruskin  polit- 
ies P.  R.  B.  dans  leurs  premiers  jours. 

Peut-etre,  a  la  fin,  pour  plus  de  liberte,  le  repeindra-t-il 
—  ainsi  le  voulait  Corot  —  sans  regarder  la  nature;  mais 
si,  un  instant,  il  a  besoin  de  s'assurer  d'une  forme  ou  d'un 
ton,  il  la  regarde  et  comrae  elle  est  la,  comme  elle  n'a  pu 
changer,  sa  presence  lui  est  un  secours.  Dans  Crossing  the 
brook  ou  The  Bay  of  Baiae,  Turner  eut  infiniment  gagne 
a  se  tenir  plus  pres  de  son  modele,  et  a  regarder  les  arbres 
au  lieu  de  les  imaginer. 

Mais  lorsqu'il  s'agit  —  et  il  s'agit  souvent  chez  Turner 


Le  Genie  de  Turner 


—  de  choses  qu'or.  ne  peut  pas  etudier  du  commencement 
a  la  fin,  parce  qu'ellespassent  trop  vite,  formes  et  couleurs ; 
de  fantaisies  que  la  nature  fait  et  defait  sans  cesse  comme 
la  broderie  liquide  des  flots,  ou  la  tapisserie  pene- 
lopienne  des  nuages  ou  les  jeux  du  soleil  sur  les  vapeurs 
d'eau,  —  faire  le  tableau  devant  la  nature  ne  sert  a  rien. 
Bien  avant  qu'on  ait  fixe  une  forme  de  vague,  elle  s'est 
effondree  sur  la  greve  ;  un  ton  de  nuage,  il  s'est  efface  dans 
le  ciel,  une  figure  de  vapeur,  hFata  morgana  est  passee... 

Si  Ton  continue,  on  juxtapose  une  forme  nouvelle  a  la 
forme  ancienne  qu'elle  contrarie,  un  nouveau  ton  de  nuage 
au  ton  precedent,  qu'il  offusque,  —  alors  que  la  nature  ne 
le  fait  pas.  Par  trop  de  conscience  a  la  reproduire,  on  la 
trahit. 

Au  contraire,  l'artiste  qui,  apres  s'etre  penetre  des  lots  de 
l'eau  en  mouvement  et  des  groupements  de  nuages  et  des 
reflections  de  la  lumiere  oblique  sur  l'ecran  des  vapeurs, 
dans  de  longues  stations  sur  la  merou  dans  les  ports,  et  apres 
avoir  pris  de  nombreuses  notes,  rentre  dans  son  atelier, 
celui-la  retrouve  dans  sa  memoire,  les  formes  qui  font  le 
plus  frappe.  Sachant  comment  s'y  prend  la  Nature  pour 
ordonner  son  spectacle,  il  s'y  prend  de  ramie,  Ce  qu'elle 
a  cree,  il  le  recree.  Ce  qu'elle  a  balbutie,  il  le  prononce. 
Et  ainsi  realise-t-il  une  chose  qu'il  n'a  peut-etre  pas  vue, 
ni  qu'elle  n'a  peut-etre  pas  faite,  mais  qu'eile  peut  faire  et 
qu'on  pourrait  voir;  —  tandis  que  celui  qui  juxtapose 
laborieusement  une  foule  d'effets  veritables,  mais  successifs, 
produit  un  ensemble  que  la  nature,  qui  est  une  et  furmo- 
nieuse,  ne  fait  jamais,  ne  peut  pas  faire  et  qu'on  ne  peut 
pas  voir. 

IV 

Quelle  fut  done  la  methode  d'observation  de  Turner? 
Continue  ?  Non,  mais  intense  et  continuellement  rap- 
pelee.  Sa  vie,  on  la  connait  :  recluse,  monotone,  ense- 
velie  au  fond  de  la  plus  noire  maison  du  plus  noir  quar- 
tier  de  Londres,  avec  de  rares  fuites  aux  ports  de  l'Angle- 
terre  ou  au  pays  du  soleil.  Son  milieu,  on  sait  quel  il  fut, 
et  ses  biographes  nousont  trop  souvent  depeint,  pour  qu'il 
soit  necessaire  d'y  revenir,  la  sordide  maison  de  Queen 
Anne  street  d'oii  Ton  ne  voyait  jamais  une  feuille  verte  et 
assez  rarement  le  ciel,  si  abandonnee  qu'il  semblait  qu'un 
grand  crime  y  eut  ete  commis  et  que  le  percepteur  des 
taxes,  lui-meme,  eut  cesse  de  se  presenter.  «  On  croit, 
disaient  les  policemen,  que  quelqu'un  vit  la  ».  Quelqu'un, 
en  eftet,  vivait  la  et  quelqu'un  doue  d'une  memoire 
visuelle  si  vaste  et  d'une  force  de  reaction  si  puissante  qu'il 
transformait  ce  milieu  brumeux  et  enfume  en  un  horizon 
radieux  et  reculait  les  murs  autour  de  lui,  assez  loin  dans 
l'espaceet  dans  le  temps  pour  que  ni  l'Orient,  ni  l'Antiquite 
n'aient  jamais  egale  en  splendeur  les  projections  lumi- 
neuses  de  son  cerveau.  Non  seulement  cette  reclusion 


ne  leur  etait  pas  fatale,  mais  elle  leur  £tait  necessaire. 
Vivre  au  milieu  de  ce  que  Ton  dicrit  ou  de  ce  que 
Ton  peint  est  tenu  par  la  critique  d'art  contemporaine 
comme  un  element  et  presque  comme  une  condition  de 
succes.  Pour  banale  qu'elle  soit.  pour  si  banale  qu'elle  ait 
penetre  jusque  dans  les  theses  soutenues  a  la  Sorbonne, 
cette  opinion  n'en  est  pas  moins  radicalement  fausse.  L'his- 
toire  de  l'Art  lui  donne  un  eclatant  dementi. 

Personne,assurement,  n'a  peint  la  splendeur  du  continent 
comme  cet  insulaire,  ni  le  mouvement  des  mers  comme  ce 
reclus.  C'est  qu'il  y  a  constamment  songe.  S'il  n'y  a  pas 
habite  physiquement,  son  ame  ne  les  a  jamais  quittes.  Et, 
ici,  nous  penetrans  jusqu'a  l'un  des  traits  les  plus  profonds 
du  caractere  britannique.  Les  Anglais  sont  des  gens  pour 
qui  le  Continent  est  une  terre  d' election,  la  terre  de  l'ideal, 
le  Chanaan  aux  raisins  monstres,  un  peu  ce  que  fut  long- 
temps,  en  art  et  en  poesie,  la  Chine  pour  le  Japon,  — 
cette  autre  ile  satellite  gravitant  autour  d'un  autre 
continent,  lis  ne  le  disent  pas.  lis  croient  meme,  de  bonne 
foi,  le  contraire.  Mais  leur  art,  leurs  ceuvres  trahissent  leurs 
pensees  secretes  en  montrant  oil  est  leur  reve  :  l'ltalie,  les 
cotes  de  Provence,  l'Espagne,  les  montagnes  de  la  Suisse 
et  du  Tyrol,  l'olivier,  l'oranger,  la  vigne,toutce  que  l'An- 
gleterre  n'a  pas,  hante  leur  ame.  Pour  eux,  l'ideal  est  la. 
Et  surtout  il  est  dans  le  soleil,  dans  la  lumiere,  dans  ces 
tons  violents,  ardents,  qui  n'apparaissent  jamais  sur  leur 
ile  que  par  hasard  et  par  un  eftet  superficiel  de  lumiere, 
non  comme  ton  local  et  appartenant  en  propre  aux  objets. 
Or  ce  qui  est  rare  est  precieux.  Quand  Ruskin  decrit  le 
jardin  paternel  oil  s'ecoula  son  enfance,  il  a  un  mot  singu- 
lier  pour  toute  oreille  meridionale  :  «  clustered  pearl,  dit-il, 
and  pendant  ruby,  joyfully  discoverable  under  the  large 
leaves  that  looked  like  vine  »  —  La  vigne  !  c'est  un  sym- 
bole  lointainet  splendide  ;  c'est  la  promesse  de  toute  une 
nature  et  de  toute  une  civilisation  gaie.  souriante,  em- 
baumee.  Ain?i,  la  promesse  du  monde  antique,  tient  tout 
entiere  dans  la  petite  touffe  d'olivier  sauvage  peniblement 
poussee  a  l'abri  d'un  rocher  sur  les  coteaux  du  Rhone  a 
cent  kilometres  au-dessus  de  la  Provence. 

Des  hommes  qui  attachent  un  tel  sentiment  a  si  peu  de 
chose  ne  laisseront  rien  perdrede  leurs  impressions  en  face 
du  pays  reve.  lis  les  traduiront  sur  le  champ  et  toutentieres. 
Arrivant  a  Venise,  l'artiste  anglais,  surtout  au  commence- 
ment du  xixe  stecle,  venu  de  si  loin  et  pour  si  peude  temps, 
n'a  qu'une  idee  :  emporter  toute  Venise  dans  ses  yeux  et 
dans  son  cceur.  Comparez-le  un  instant  avee  son  confrere 
italien.  Le  Venitien  sort  de  sa  calle,  flane,regarde,  admire, 
mais  il  retrouvera  demain  tout  cela,  la  Giudecca  a  la  meme 
place,  les  memes  domes  s'arrondissant  dans  le  ciel,  les 
memes  gondoles  se  recourbant  sur  le  canal  et  les  memes 
eaux  repetant  les  formes  et  les  couleurs  des  memes  palais 
dans  le  balbutiement  de  leurs  reflets  ;  il  ne  se  presse  pas  de 
le  reproduire,  il  en  jouit.  II  laisse  son  reve  se  bercer,  sur 
ces  flots  qui  ne  tarirontpas,  miirir  a  ce  soleil  qui  ne  s'etein- 


Le  Genie  de  Turner 


dra  pas,  comme  un  amour  trop  assure  pour  etre  vivement 
ressenti,  dans  une  apres-midi  qui  n'aura  pas  de  fin.  II  va 
prendre  une  glace  au  cafe  Florian.  II  rentre  chez  lui...  II 
n'a  rien  fait.  —  L' Anglais  lui,  sait  que  l'apres-midi  aura 
une  fin,  que  bientot  il  retrouvera  la  brume  jaune,  l'atmos- 
phere  epaisse  et  froide,  l'horreur  de  sa  Queen  Anne 
street.  11  aspire,  il  devore,  il  absorbe,  par  toutes  les  papilles 
de  son  imagination.  II  veut  ce  soleil,  il  aspire  a  cette  vision. 
Sa  force  est  faite  de  son  desir.  ses  facultes  decuplees  par  son 
desespoir,  son  genie  est  fait  de  son  amour. 

Ainsi,  l'art  ne  nait  pas  necessairement  du  milieu  oil  vit 
l'homme.  La  plupart  des  grands  paysagistes  du  siecle,  Corot, 
Rousseau,  Turner,  naquirent  dans  de  grandes  villes,  de 
families  casanieres,  au  fond  de  noires  boutiques.  Les  choses 
quel'on  a  le  mieux  sentiesdans  la  vie,  ne  sont  pas  celles  oil 
Ton  a  le  plus  vecu  :  ce  sont  celles  oil  Ton  aurait  le  plus 
voulu  vi-ore,  que  Ton  a  dans  un  moment  d'extase  appro- 
chees  et  qu'il  a  fallu  quitter  pour  toujours. 

L'art,  qui  puise  aux  sources  les  plus  profondes  du  coeur 
humain,  n'estpas  necessairement  une  emanation  du  milieu, 
un  produit  de  la  race,  une  rencontre  du  moment  :  en  un 
mot,  une  emanation  de  la  vie.  L'art  est  souvent,  au  con - 
traire,  l'anneau  magique  mis  par  l'artiste  a  son  doigt  et  au 
doigt  de  ceux  qui  le  suivent,  pour  fuir  le  milieu  ou  ils 
vivent.  C'est  souvent  une  revanche  sur  les  petitesses,  sur 
les  contingences,  sur  les  vulgarites  du  milieu,  une  rebellion 
contre  les  tyrannies  de  la  race,  une  resistance  a  la  poussee 
d'une  epoque  :  l'art  est  une  revanche  sur  la  vie. 

V 

Et,  cependant,  Turner  est  Anglais.  II  Test  par  sessujets, 
il  Test  par  sa  passion  pour  la  nature,  il  Test  enfin  par  sa 
couleur.  Son  premier  sujet,  c'est  la  mer,  non  pas  la  ligne 
d'horizon  grise  ou  bleue  qui  termine  un  paysage,  ni  le 
delaisse  d'une  crique  oil  naissent  et  se  multiplient  de 
petites  vies  d'une  animalkti  inferieure;  c'est  la  mer  libre, 
redoutable  et  chanceuse;  parfois  disciplinee.  mais  mou- 
vante;  parfois  resserree  dans  un  port,  mais  avee  une  ouver- 
ture  sur  l'infini.  II  cherche  les  moments  ou  l'eau  est  elle- 
me'iie,  a  une  physionomie,  n'est  pas  une  simple  route  sur 
laquelle  on  passe,  ni  un  simple  miroir  sur  lequel  on  se 
pen -be,  maw  a  la  fois  un  obstacle  et  une  aide,  comme  un 
caraciere  incertain,  mais  fremissant  d'une  passion  inquiete, 
instable,  mais  original.  C'est  aussi  la  grande  voie 
par  laquelle  l'Angleterre  communique  avec  l'immen- 
site  du  monde  et  par  oil  ses  differentes  parties  communi- 
quent  entre  elles.  II  y  a  dans  cette  passion  pour  l'Ocean 
comme  un  obscur  desir  de  realiser  le  vceu  du  poete  : 
«  Faire  une  ceinture  au  monde  du  siilon  de  notre  vais- 
seau...  » 

Ce  vaisseau  qui  le  porte,  il  l'aime  comme  un  cheval, 
mieux  qu'un  cheval  •  >)  Je  decrit,  le  chante,  raconte  ses 

6 


grandeurs,  ses  mceurs,  sa  decadence,  sa  vie  enfin  et  pleure 
sur  sa  mort  comme  sur  la  mort  d'un  etre  vivant.  Seul,  un 
Anglais  put  avoir  l'idee  de  peindre  le  Fighting  Temei  aire, 
1'ancien  vaisseau  de  guerre,  reforme,  conduit  par  un  re- 
morqueur  jusqu'au  chantier  oil  il  sera  mis  en  pieces  pour 
servir  de  bois  de  chauffage,  de  portes  de  jardin,  dereliques 
peut-etre  teintes  du  sang  des  vainqueurs  de  Trafalgar.  Et 
le  soir  oil,  descendant  la  Tamise  vers  Greenwich,  et 
croisant  le  funebre  cortege,  un  ami  lui  dit  :  «  Turner, 
voila  un  tableau  pour  vous!  »,  s'ils  se  comprirent  aussitot, 
c'est  que  e'etaient  la  deux  ames  britanniques. 

Jusque  dans  ses  sujets  antiques,  dans  ses  vingt  visions  de 
Carthage,  qui  font  de  lui  comme  un  Flaubert  de  la  pein- 
ture,  Turner  est  guide  par  cette  obscure  affinite  nationale. 
Le  monde  antique  etait  divise  par  des  montagnes  inacces- 
sibles,  et  reuni  par  la  mer.  II  etait  separe  par  des  coutumes, 
des  traditions,  des  langues  differentes,  mais  reuni  par  une 
mer  semblable  qui,  sur  ses  bords,  etabhssait  peu  a  peu,  en 
meme  temps  qu'un  meme  climat,un  meme  esprit,  de  sem- 
blables  habitudes  commerciales,  des  mceurs  pareilles,  des 
palais  identiques,  une  bngue  commune.  Cela  se  modifiait 
a  mesure  que  Ton  penetrait  dans  les  terres  :  les  peuples  se 
differenciaient.  C'est  sur  la  terie  qu'on  imaginait  les  peu- 
plades  etranges,  decrites  par  Pline  :  les  Pygmees,  les 
Thibiens,  etc.  La  mer,  au  contraire,  etait  topographique- 
ment  bien  connue  et,  recemment,  M.  Victor  Berard,  a 
etabli  que  YOdyssee,  d'Homere,  etait  geographiquement 
beaucoup  plus  exacte  qu'on  ne  l'avait  cru  jusqu'ici.  Encore, 
aujourd'hui,  il  suffit  d'aller  se  promener  sur  les  mines 
d'Ostie,  pour  sentir  ce  qu'etait  cette  Mediterranee  par  oil 
venait  le  ble,  par  oil  venaient  les  etofFes  precieuses,  par 
oil  venaient  les  chants  et  les  langues  melodieuses,  par 
oil  venaient  les  religions.  On  regardait  la  mer,  alors, 
comme  la  grande  route  de  tout  progres.  Depuis  Enee, 
jusqu'a  Saint-Augustin  avec  Monique,  tout  le  monde 
antique  —  un  thyrse  ou  une  croix  a  la  main  —  s'est  tourne 
vers  la  mer. 

Un  seul  peuple,  aujourd'hui,  eprouve  pour  elle  le 
meme  sentiment  avec  la  meme  force  :  l'Angleterre. 
C'est  la  que  devait  naitre  le  peintre  de  la  mer.  Etson  sujet, 
s'il  le  puisait  jamais  dans  l'antiquite,  devait  etre  cette  ame 
du  monde  antique  qui  devint  aussi  l'ame  des  premieres 
eglises  chretiennes,  et  s'il  peignait  une  ville  antique, 
ce  devait  etre  la  ville  qui,  plus  qu'aucune  autre,  incarne 
et  resume  la  puissance  maritime  de  l'antiquite  :  Carthage. 

II  est  encore  Anglais  et  surtout  par  sa  passion  pour  la 
couleur.  Cette  passion  eclate  dans  toutes  les  ceuvres  anglai- 
ses,  depuis  le  xvni"  siecle  jusqu'a  nos  jours,  oil  qu'on  les 
observe,  en  contre-distinction  avec  toutes  les  ceuvres  des 
autres  pays  et  contemporaines.  Tout  leur  effort,  toute  leur 
critique  est  oriente  vers  ce  but.  Quand  Kuskin  gourmande 
quelque  peintre  continental,  c'est  toujours  pour  manque  de 
couleur.  Seuls,  des  Anglais  etaient  capables,  dans  leur 
etrange  appetit  coloriste,  de  decouvrir  que  les  anciens,  les 


Le  Genie  de  Turner 


Titien  et  les  autres  etaient  autrefois  colores  de  facon  vio- 
lente,  et  que  cette  douceur  et  cette  sobriete  que  Ton 
croit  devoir  admirer  aujourd'hui  ne  sont  dues  qu'a 
Taction  imprevue  de  deux  grands  maitres  qu'on  oublie 
toujours  de  citer  :  Time  and  varnish  (i).  C'est  chez  eux 
que  Delacroix,  d'abord ;  puis  Monet  et  Pissaro  sont  alles 
chercher  leur  idttes  de  renouvellement  de  l'art  continental 
et  leur  technique  coloree.  Pour  atteindrela  couleur  ils  vont 
jusqu'a  l'extreme  limite  du  bon  gout;  ils  la  depassent 
parfois  et  les  plus  horribles  cacophonies  se  font  entendre. 
Meme  chez  leurs  meilleurs  peintres,  il  y  a  de  ce  cote-l i  des 
defaillances  qu'on  ne  trouve  jamais  chez  les  bons  coloristes 
continentaux. 

Rousseau  ne  commet  pas  une  seule  fois  telle  des  fausses 
notes  de  Turner.  Moins  grand,  il  est  plus  egal.  Maisaussi, 
lorsque  cette  recherche  exasporee  atteint  son  but,  lorsque 
les  couleurs,  dont  chacune  prise  separ^ment  est  violente, 
parviennent,  dtant  6galement  montees  de  ton,  a  s'harmo- 
niser  dans  la  violence,  un  flamboiement  eclated'une  beaut6 
incomparable.  On  a  la  tentative  la  plus  audacieuse  que 
l'homme  ait  faite  de  lutter  avec  la  nature.  On  a  le  cri 
de  passion  le  plus  apre  qui  se  soit  echappe  du  cceur  humain. 
On  a  la  peinture  anglaise.  On  a  Madox-Brown,  Watts 
et  Blake.  On  a  des  monstruosites  et  des  transfigurations, 
des  extravagances  et  des  miracles:  on  a  Turner. 

VI 

Turner  fut  le  premier  des  impressionnistes,  et  apres 
quatre-vingts  ansecoules,  il  restedu  moins  dans  les  genres 
qu'il  a  trails,  le  plus  grand.  Que  l'impressionnisme  fran- 
cais  soit  venu  d'Angleterre,  c'est  ce  que  les  lettres  de 
Delacroix  prouvent  ;  c'est  ce  qu'a  etabli  M.  Paul  Signac 
dans  sa  brochure  sur  le  Neo-impressionisme;  c'est  ce  qu'a 
irrefutablement  d^montre  M.  Wynford  Dewhurst  dans  le 
Studio ;  et  c'est  ce  qu'enfin  tout  lecteur  de  Ruskin  et 
notammentdes  <t  Elements  of  Drawing  »,  ecrit,  en  1856  ne 
peut  ignorer.  Turner  est  le  pere  des  impressionnistes. 

Leurs  decouvertes  sont  lessiennes.  Le  premier,  il  vit  que 
la  nature  est  couleurs  autant  que  lignes  et,  a  mesure  qu'il 
progresse,  les  lignes  fermes  etairetees  de  sa  premiere  ma- 
niere  fondent  peu  a  peu  et  s'evanouissent  dans  la  couleur. 
Bientot,  il  voulut  peindre  l'atmosphere,  l'enveloppe  des  ob- 
jets  colores  vus  a  distance  plus  encore  que  les  choses  en- 
veloppees  et  comprit  bien  vite  que  l'atmosphere  ne  pouvait 
s'exprimer  que  par  le  morcellement  infini  des  choses  que 
Claude  Lorrain  dessinait  en  masse  et  peignait  en  bloc.  II 
effilochales  nuages.  II  prit  ces  gros  et  admirables  paquets, 
ces  cumulus  de  Ruysdael,  d'Hobbema,  de  VandeVelde  et 
lesparfila,  en  fit  de  la  charpie  mille  et  mille  fois  nuancee 


(1)  Mot  de  John  Everett  Millais. 


qu'il  confia  aux  vents  du  ciel.  Entre  les  scintillements  du 
soleil  et  le  miroitement  des  vagues,  les  palais  perdirent 
leur  forme,  pour  ne  garder  comme  les  pierres  precieuses, 
que  leur  e'clat.  Les  bateaux  n'eurent  plus  qu'un  mouvement 
general  et  pour  ainsi  dire  «  dorsal  ».  Sur  la  ligne  partout 
brisee,  triompha  la  couleur. 

Turner  vit  ensuite  que  l'ombre  etait  une  couleur  comme 
le  reste  et  qu'il  n'est  pas  necessaire  de  la  repr6senter  par 
un  assombrissement  du  ton.  II  y  fut  amene  en  contem- 
plant  les  effets  de  mer,  ou  la  lumiere  delate,  mais 
sans  grandes  oppositions  d'ombre.  Sur  l'eau,  il  n'y  a  pres- 
que  pas  d'ombre,  ou,  si  Ton  veut  il  y  en  a  tant  et  de  si 
petites  qu'aucun  parti-pris  n'y  est  possible  de  ces 
repousssirs  noirs  qui  occupent,  invariablement,  dans 
tout  paysage  ancien,  le  premier  plan.  Peu  a  peu,  Turner 
a  efface  de  ses  toiles  ce  repoussoir.  Voyant  que  la  nature 
savait  faire  de  la  lumiere  sans  user  de  sombres  contrastes, 
il  a  cherche  a  s'en  passer  comme  elle.  II  a  evolue  de  l'effet 
lumineux  par  contraste,  e'est-a-dire  de  l'opposition  du 
noir  et  du  blanc,  a  l'effet  par  redoublement, c'est-k-divQ  par 
des  oppositions  color^es.  De  chaque  ombre  il  fit  une  vive 
couleur. 

Ce  n'est  pas  tout.  Cette  couleur  qu'il  faisait£clater  sans  avoir 
besoin  de  contraste,  il  la  lui  fallait  plus  vive  qu'on  ne  l'avait 
jamais  obtenue.  Pour  cela,  il  eut  l'id^e  de  la  poser  toute  pure, 
toute  crue,  par  points  ou  par  lignes  imperceptibles,  divisant  le 
meme  ton  en  une  infinite"  d'atomes  juxtaposes  avec  une  telle 
adresse,  que,  si  violents  soient-ils  vus  de  pres,  ils  se  con- 
fondent,  a  une  certaine  distance,  en  une  parfaite  harmonic 
C'est  la  division  de  la  couleur  et  le  melange  opfique. 

Voila  done,  non  seulement  prophetisees,  maisappliquees 
les  trois  decouvertes  de  l'impressionnisme  :  i°  la  nature  est 
couleurs  plus  que  lignes;  20  les  ombres  memes  sont  des  cou- 
leurs; 30  la  couleur  s'exprime  par  la  division  du  ton. 
Ainsi  '1  urner,  qui  sort  de  Claude,  amene  aux  impression- 
nistes. Mais  il  absorbe  tout  en  lui  :  ses  predecesseurs 
comme  ses  successeurs.  II  dispense  de  voir  Claude  Lorrain 
et  il  dispense  de  voir  Claude  Monet.  II  est  all£  aussi  loin 
qu'on  peutaller  dans  cette  voie,  plus  loin  meme.  Gerard  disait 
de  Delacroix  :  «  C'est  un  homme  qui  marchesur  les  toits... ». 
De  Turner,  on  peut  dire  :  «  II  s'est  pench6  tout  au  bord  du 
precipice  ».  Personne  ne  peut  se  pencher  davantage  sans 
avoir  le  vertige  et  sans  tomber.  A  voir  ses  derniers  tableaux, 
cette  recherche  exasperee,  folle,  hagarde  de  la  lumiere,  il 
semble  qu'on  apercoive  quelqu'un  de  ces  alpinistes  dont 
chaque  annee  nous  ramene  la  tragique  aventure,  qui  torn- 
bent  dans  un  gouffre  pour  avoir  voulu  cueillir  une  rare  et 
inaccessible  fleur. 

Malheureusement  ilest  un  point  ou  Turner  n'a  pas  devance 
la  technique  impressionniste :  la  proscription  du  bitume, 
du  «  magylph  »  et  des  couleurs  v£getales  hasardeuses.  II  a 
peint  avec  tout  ce  qui  lui  tombait  sous  la  main,  insouciant 
ou,  probablement,  ignorant  des  fatales consequences  de  ces 
mixtures. 

7 


Le  Genie  de  Turnei 


Aussi,  son  oeuvre  se  degrade  et  chaque  annee  qui  passe 
lui  cnleve  de  sa  beaute.  C'est  le  chatiment  des  alchimistes 
di  l'Art,  la  revanche  des  simples.  Le  temps  qui  travaille 
pour  Memling,  travaille  contre  Turner.  Souvent  le  premier 
plan  a  pousse  au  noir  par  la  disparition  des  couleurs  claires 
qui  se  sont  combinees  avec  les  autres.  Les  harmonies  pri- 
mitives out  disparu.  Par  la  tradition  seulement  les  gdne'ra- 
tions  nouvelles  savent  qu'il  y  avait  ici  ou  la  telle  chose  qui 
n'y  est  plus. 

Ainsi,  dans  le  Pel  crinage  de  Childe  Harold,  lepont  qui 
reliait  a  la  terre  l'ile  d'or  s'est,  en  partie  effondre  et  ce  n'est 
qu'a  un  accident  chimique  arrive  a  la  couleur  que  nous 
devons  de  considerer  comme  inabordable  cette  ile  du  bon- 
heur.  "DzXisYUlysse  raillant  Polypheme  le  chariot  et  les 
chevaux  d'Apollon  se  sont  effaces.  La  lumiere  d'Agrippine 
abordant  avec  les  cendres  de  Germanicus  s'est  dteinte.  Les 
nuages  superieurs  dans  Approach  to  Venice  sont  devenus 
opaques  et  le  blanc  du  fond  s'est  legerement  altere  «  fai- 
santdusoleil  une  tache  trop  visible  ».  Cela  aussi  rend  son 
oeuvre  plus  precieuse.  La  nature  est  plus  belle  mais  plus 
stable.  Les  couchers  de  soleil  sur  la  lagune  dureront  plus 
que,  dans  les  musees,  les  toiles  du  filsdubarbier.  Le  miracle 
durera  plus  que  le  temoignage.  C'est  pourquoi  il  faut  aller 
voir  le  temoignage  pendant  qu'il  est  temps  encore  :  c'est 
parfois  dans  un  miracle  ce  qu'il  y  a  de  plus  beau,  parce  que 
c'est  ce  qu'il  y  a  de  plus  humain.  Le  miracle  vient  du  ciel  : 
le  temoignage  vient  de  la  terre,  de  la  foule  grouillante, 
souffrante,  esperante,  melee  de  boue,  d'illusions,  d'erreurs, 
mais  aussi.  d'une  confiance,  d'un  desir  et  d'un  amour,  que 
toute  la  beaute  du  ciel  et  de  la  terre,  et  tout  le  prodige 
realise  ne  nous  remplaceront  pas. 

VII 

En  terminant  ces  lignes,  je  m'apercois  que  je  n'ai  parle 
d'aucun  tableau  de  Turner.  C'est  que  j'ai  parle  de  tous  et 
que,  d'un  genie  comme  le  sien,  on  ne  peut  pas  faire  une 
transcription  detaillee  et  fidele,  —  pas  plus  qu'il  ne  l'a  faite 
lui-meme  de  la  nature,  —  mais  seulement  essayer  de  don- 
ner  une  impression...  Cependant,  s'il  etaitune  oeuvre  qu'il 
fallut  citer  comme  centrale  et  typique  de  sa  vie,  reunissant 
a  la  foisl'observation  la  plus  juste  et  la  puissance  evocatrice 
la  plus  intense,  je  dirais  :  allez  voir  Approach  to  Venice. 
cette  mer  et  ce  ciel  qui  s'enfoncent  indefiniment,  ce  foyer 
de  lumiere  vert  tendre,  brillant  entre  les  deux  comme  un 
astre  vegetal,  parseme  de  taches  sanglantes,  ce  baiser  cris- 
tallin,  qu'au  giton  des  brumes  delicates,  le  crepuscule 
donne  aux  ondes  qui  s'endorment,  et  ces  theories  de 
gondoles  glissant  entre  deux  transparences'  avec  leurs  ca- 
bines  rouges  et  leurs  agrafes  d'or,  de  Fusina  vers  Venise. 
entre  les  Fantomes  de  la  Giudecca!...  Tout  le  bienfait 
apporte  par  Turner  a  1'humanite  est  la  !  Approcher  de 
Venise,  c'est  approcher  de  la  cite  sans  rues,  sans  voitures, 
8 


sans  bruit,  dela  cite;  des  musees  ou  resplendissent  les  Car- 
paccio  et  les  Tintoret,  des  eglises  recouvertes  de  metal- 
liques  splendeurs,  des  sanctuaires  lames  d'or  aux  lampes 
mysterieuses,  des  palais  suspendus  sur  des  dentelles  de 
pierre. ..  Mais  rien  ne  sera  plus  beau  que  cette  Approche 
meme.  Aucune  robe  de  Tintoret  n'aura  la  splendeur  des 
barques  qui  nous  amenent;  aucun  Titien,  celle  des  mon- 
tagnes  de  Cadore,  que  nous  devinons;  aucun  nimbe  autour 
d'une  tete  de  saint  ne  vaudra  ce  soleil,  aucune  pourpre,  ces 
nuages,  aucune  priere  l'infinie  douceur  de  ce  reve  vecu 
pendant  quelques  minutes  delicieuses...  Rien  ne  vaudra  la 
vision  lointaine  de  cette  cite  qui  semble  a  l'horizon  trop 
belle  pour  etre  jamais  abordee,  et  fuir  devant  les  barques 
des  voyageurs,  indefiniment, 

Ainsi  que  Dele  sur  la  mer... 

doree  comme  la  jeunesse,  silencieuse  comme  le  reve, 
irrealisable  comme  le  bonheur... 

Et,  cependant,  Turner  est,  sur  un  point,  absolument 
realiste:  dans  les  dels-  II  a  transforme  lesarbres,reconstruit 
les  villes,  bouleverse  les  rivieres,  eleve  ou  demoli  arbi- 
trairement  des  montagnes  :  il  a  fidelement  reproduit  les 
ciels.  Personne,  parmi  les  plus  realistes,  ne  les  a  si  exac- 
tement  rendus.  C'est  que,  de  nos  jours,  le  ciel  est  la  seule 
region  de  la  nature  que  l'homme  moderne,  avec  son  indus- 
trialisme,  ne  bouleverse  pas.  Les  paysagistes  qui  se  sont 
attaches,  depuis  cinquante  ans,  a  aimer,  a  exalter  la  beaute 
de  la  terre,  des  champs,  des  cotes,  des  forets,  voient, 
helas !  chaque  annee,  disparaitre  quelque  beaute  qu'ils  ont 
aimee.  Le  peintre  des  ciels,  lui,  ne  voit  rien  changer,  ni 
fletrir.  Aux  peintres  de  paysages,  a  notre  epoque  d'indus- 
trialisme,  s'appliquent  ces  paroles  :  «  Ne  vous  amassez 
pas  de  tresors  sur  la  terre,  oil  la  rouille  et  les  vers  les 
rongent,  et  ou  les  voleurs  fouillent  et  derobent,  mais 
amassez-vous  des  tresors  dans  le  ciel.  —  La  oil  est  ton 
tresor,  est  aussi  ton  cceur.  »  —  Regardez  les  crepuscules 
enflammes  dela  National  Gallery.  La  fut  le  tresor  esthetique 
de  Turner.  La,  fut  sou  cceur.  A  ces  flammes  sont  venues 
s'allumer  tour  a  tour,  tous  les  flambeaux  qui  ont  eclaire 
1' Art  d'une  lumiere  nouvelle,  Delacroix,  en  1825,  les  im- 
pressionnistes  en  1870.  Et  ce  sont  elles  aussi  qui  eclairent 
les  plus  humbles  et  les  plus  obscursde  ceux  qui  ouvrentles 
yeux  sur  la  nature.  Je  les  vois  passer  dans  le  ciel  crepuscu- 
laire,  entre  les  Cevennes  et  les  Alpes,  tandis  que  j'ecris  ces 
pages  et  que  l'ombre  qui  tombe  m'avertft  qu'il  est  tard 
et  que  la  journee  consacree  au  reve  est  finie. 

Robert  de  la  Sizeranne. 


Les  Monochromes  de  Turner  et  ses  premieres  Aquarelles 


LES  MONOCHROMES  DE  TURNER 
ET  SES  PREMIERES  AQUARELLES. 

Nous  voudrions,  dans  ce  court  article,  fixer  quelques 
points  qui  pourront  guider  les  jeunes  debutants  dans  leur 
etude  des  monochromes  et  des  premieres  aquarelles  de 
Turner. 

Nous  leur  recommanderons  tout  d'abord  d'etre  prudents. 
Le  jeune  artiste  ne  doit  pas  ignorer  que  l'etude  du  genie 
de  Turner  se  heurte  a  deux  difficultes.  L'une  est  l'eton- 
nante  complexity  de  l'artiste,  1'autre  a  pour  cause  tout  ce 
qui  a  ete  dit  par  les  critiques  qui  en  ont  fait  le  sujet  de 
leur  prose  enthousiaste.  Quand  on  pense  a  ce  que  Turner 
a  excite  de  ferveur  litteraire,  on  ne  peut  que  s'etonner  de 
cette  deviation  qui  a  fait  passer  les  emotions  litteraires  dans 
le  domaine  artistique  du  peintre.  II  faut  se  souvenir  que 
Turner,  dans  les  dernieres  annees  de  sa  vie,  a  subi  deux 
facheuses  influences  :  celle  des  sarcasmes  et  des  plaisante- 
riesdu  Punch  et  de  ses  lecteurs  et  celle  qui  se  popularise 
dans  les  transports  poetiques  de  Ruskin,  homme  de  let- 
tres.  La  premiere  froissa  les  sentiments  de  Turner,  la 
seconde  nuisit  au  peintre  en  transportant  dans  la  critique 
de  sa  peinture  des  sentiments  litteraires  dont  l'exageration 
devait  provoquer  une  reaction.  II  faut  reconnaitre  que 
l'extraordinaire  facilite  de  Ruskin  a  manier  les  mots  inter- 
posa  entre  l'ceuvre  de  Turner  et  ceux  qui  voulaient  l'etu- 
dier,  une  atmosphere  de  litterature.  Quiconque  avait  ete 
saisi  par  la  richesse  des  phrases  de  Ruskin  s'imagina  com- 
prendre  Turner,  alors  qu'il  ne  vibrait  pas  a  Fart  du  peintre, 
mais  a  Femotion  de  1'homme  delettres.  On  finit  par  com- 
prendre  que  les  plus  beaux  passages  de  Ruskin  prenaient 
les  descriptions  poetiques  pour  de  la  critique  d'art  et  les 
fantaisies  les  plus  remarquables  pour  des  faits  prouves.  En 
d'autres  termes,  Ruskin  a  fait  des  poemes  sur  Turner, 
tout  comme  Turner  en  faisait  avec  la  nature,  et  il  y 
avait  peu  de  relation  entre  les  poemes  et  leurs  titres.  La 
Venise  reelle  et  celle  de  Turner  sont  tres  differentes,  mais 
ce  qui  les  differencie  n'est  pas  plus  marque,  pas  moins 
transforme  par  le  temperament  et  l'imagination  que  le 
contraste  existant  entre  les  phases  du  genie  de  Turner  et 
les  descriptions  litteraires  que  Ruskin  a  inventees  et  popu- 
larisees.  N'oublions  pas  que  Ruskin  est  un  artiste  en  mots, 
toujours  fascine  par  la  beaute  de  son  style,  toujours  desi- 
reux  de  produire  un  effet.  S'il  avait  compris  l'art  de  Tur- 
ner comme  art  —  j'entends  avec  toute  l'intensite  qu'il  mc- 
ritait  —  il  n'eut  pas  repandu  les  flots  de  son  eloquence. 
Les  grandes  emotions  esthetiques  sont  plutot  muettes 
qu'eloquentes,  et  c'est  pourquoi  les  peintres  expriment 
leur  opinion  en  sentences  courtes  ou  en  simples  mots. 
Sans  doute  Ruskin  aimait  son  sujet,  mais  il  se  redressait 
devant  son  idole  avant  de  se  mettre  a  ecrire  ses  poemes ; 
ceci  ne  s'applique  pas  aux  courtes  notes  de  critique  que 


Ruskin  traca  de  temps  a  autre  d'une  plume  alerte  et  sans 
pretention,  mais  a  toute  cette  partie  de  son  oeuvre  dont 
l'ardeur  et  la  beaute  de  style  lui  ont  valu  fort  injustement 
une  position  eminente  dans  la  critique  d'art. 

II  fallait  parler  ainsi  en  toute  franchise  de  l'influence  de 
Ruskin,  car  nous  lui  devons,  ou  plutot  nous  devons  a  la 
reaction  qui  s'est  faite  contre  elle,  cette  indifference  que 
nous  constatons  pour  l'art  de  Turner.  Les  poussees  de 
chaleur  sont  suivies  de  frissons  et  actuellement  Turner 
n'est  plus  etudie  comme  il  devrait  Fetre.  Beaucoup  se 
disent  que  le  grand  paysagiste  ne  peut  etre  etudie  sans 
se  fatiguer  le  cerveau  sur  les  problemes  d'ethique,  les 
livres  de  maximes  et  de  morale  et  les  chausse-trappes 
esoteriques  dont  nombre  d'ecrivains  sur  Turner  ont  cru 
devoir  orner  leurs  commentaires.  Turner  n'etait  ni  [un 
homme  de  lettres  ni  un  moraliste.  C'etait  un  grand  maitre 
du  pinceau  et.  comme  tel,  on  le  peut  etudier  sans  plus  de 
difficultes  qu'il  ne  faut  pour  rendre  l'etude  interessante. 
Pour  moi,  je  ne  crois  pas  qu'il  soit  necessaire  de  tirer,  ne 
fut-ce  qu'une  fusee  d'eloquence.  Le  talent  de  Turner  est  si 
lent  en  son  developpement,  si  fecond,  si  plein  de  ressour- 
ces  dans  ses  methodes  techniques  qu'il  y  a  suffisamment 
a  faire,  pour  quiconque  est  curieux  de  style,  d'etablir  les 
points  interessants. 

Les  monochromes  et  les  premieres  aquarelles  sont 
reunies  ici,  d'abord  parce  que  les  premieres  aquarelles 
ont  beaucoup  de  points  communs  avec  les  etudes  en 
gradations  de  ton  et  aussi  parce  que  l'art  de  Turner 
s'appuie  sur  la  connaissance  acquise  par  les  constantes 
esquisses  a  la  pointe  ou  a  la  gouache  sur  des  dessins  a 
la  pointe.  On  sait,  ou  du  moins  on  devrait  savoir  que  les 
etudes  d'apres  nature  de  Turner  prirent  rarement  la 
forme  d'etudes  travaillees  a  l'huile,  et  il  n'y  a  pas  de 
doute  que  ses  etudes  d'aquarelles  en  plein  air,  n'allerent 
pas  au  dela  de  notes.  La  quantite  d'esquisses  qui  se  trou- 
vent  a  la  National  Gallery  prouvent  que  Turner,  quand  il 
peignait  dans  son  atelier,  n'avait  pas  d'autre  desir  que  d'etre 
utile  a  lui-meme.  II  ne  se  preoccupait  ni  des  critiques  ni 
du  public  quand  il  s'en  allait  en  promenade,  notant  avec 
une  rapidite  qui  parait  merveilleuse  les  points  essentiels 
d'art  que  la  nature  lui  revelait  dans  ses  nuages,  ses  mon- 
tagnes,  ses  collines,  ses  vallees,  dans  la  mer  ou  encore 
dans  les  splendeurs  chromatiques  de  Faction  du  soleil  sui1 
les  couleurs  en  plein  air. 

II  ne  faudra  done  pas  oublier  ce  caractere  intime  des 
esquisses  en  blanc  et  noir  de  Turner.  Je  me  sens  moi- 
meme  embarrasse  en  les  etudiant.  Avec  Cotman,  au  con- 
traire,  on  est  immediatement  a  Faise,  on  voit  que  ses 
esquisses  doivent  servir  a  une  oeuvre  d'art.  Elles  n'ont  pas 
ete  faites  pour  Cotman  seul,  elles  sont  completes,  aussi 
sont-elles  entrees  dans  le  domaine  public  des  tresors  d'art. 
II  ne  faut  pas  etablir  de  comparaisons  entre  les  differents 
buts  que  Turner  et  Cotman  se  sont  proposes  dans  leurs 
monochromes.  La  suite  extraordinaire   de  dessins  brims 

9 


Les  Monochromes  de  Turner  el  ses  premieres  Aquarelles 


pour  le  Liber  studiorum  n'ont  pas  ete  seulement  faits  pour 
servir  de  guide  aux  graveurs,  ils  ont  ete  traces  plus  ou 
moins  a  la  hate,  car  Turner  savait  que  la  gravure  serait 
faite,  soit  par  lui,  soit  sous  son  controle  vigilant.  II  pouvait 
done  se  borner  a  indiquer  ce  qu'il  desirait  sans  laire  un 
dessin  completement  fini  dans  toutes  ses  parties. 

Tres  different  etait  le  but  de  Cotman  quand  il  entreprit 
et  termina  ces  magnifiques  ceuvres:  Breaking  the  Clod  et 
The  Shadowed  Stream. 

Les  etudes  [en  brun  pour  le  Liber  studiorum  sont  ici 
representees  par  cinq  planches.  Holy  Island  Cathedral 
(M.  W.  28)  ayec  sa  fine  simplicite,  sa  gracieuse  architec- 
ture et  son  melange  de  saxon  et  de  gothique.  Macon,  sujet 
qui  ne  fut  pas  grave  du  vivant  de  Turner  mais  plus  tard 
par  M.  Frank  Short,  est  une  composition  de  grand  charme; 
on  y  remarque  un  trait  frequent  chez  Turner,  la  facon 
inegale  dont  l'artiste  traite  les  differentes  parties  d'une 
esquisse.  Les  arbres  a  droite,  le  pont  dans  le  lointain,  sont 
les  points  qu'il  a  soigne  et  qu'il  voulait  amener  a  un  effet 
dans  la  gravure.  La  Grande  Chartreuse  avec  sa  noble  gra- 
vite;  les  Sportsmen  dans  un  bois,  si  legers  et  si  gracieux, 
parlent  d'eux-memes,  mais  il  faut  signaler  tout  particulie- 
rement  l'aspect  leger  de  la  seconde. 

Malgre  l'absurde  idee  d'autrefois  que  l'aquarelle  a  une 
valeur  artistique  moindre  que  la  peitunre  a  l'huile,  on 
reconnait  generalement  que  l'aquarelle  etait  le  precede 
favori  de  Turner  et  que  son  talent  y  revit  plus  vivement 
que  dans  ses  peintures  a  l'huile.  Ces  dernieres  ont  beau- 
coup  souffert  de  la  negligence  avec  laqaelle  Turner  em- 
ployait  des  couleurs  peu  solides  et  de  ses  precedes  d'exe- 
cution.  Au  contraire,  dans  l'aquarelle,  il  fut  toujours  tres 
soigneux,  n'epargnant  ni  son  temps  ni  sa  peine  pourobte- 
nir  les  meilleurs  resultats  possibles.  Et  ces  aquarelles  ont 
fort  peu  change,  sauf  celles  qui  ont  ete  exposees  a  i'humi- 
dite  ou  a  line  lumiere  trop  forte  pour  'leur  extreme  deli- 
catesse.  C'est  pourquoi  l'etudiant  devra  apporter  grande 
attention  aux  aquarelles  du  maitre.  Et  ce  n'est  pas  tout. 
Les  dernieres  ceuvres  de  Turner  en  peinture  a  l'huile  lui 
ont  ete  suggerees  par  son  talent  special  dans  l'aquarelle,  ce 
talent  qui  lui  a  permis  de  rendre  si  bien  les  mysteres  de 
l'atmosphere  et  de  la  lumiere  du  soleil.  Dans  les  dessins  de 
Turner,  nous  pouvons  suivre  toute  revolution  de  l'aqua- 
relle anglaise,  depuis  la  premiere  maniere  en  taches  qu'il 
herita  de  Sandby  Rooker,  Hearne,  Dayes  et  Cozens.  Apres 
cette  maniere  en  tons  neutres,  nous  arrivons  au  style  de 
Girtin  et  nous  trouvons  bientot  cette  peinture  de  nature  - 
morte,  oiseaux  et  poissons  que  William  Hunt  lui-meme 
n'aurait  pas  depasse,  jusqu'a  ce  qu'enfin,  apres  bien  des 
changements  et  des  transformations,  le  talent  de  Turner 
nous  conduise  aux  etonnantes  fantaisies  de  Venise  qui 
portent  l'impressionnisme  au  plus  haut  point  que  l'aqua- 
relle ait  connu.  M.  Brabazon  nous  a  donne  quelques  jolies 
impressions  a  la  Turner,  mais  il  serait  le  premier  a  s'in- 
cliner  devant  le  grand  pionnier  de  ce  monde  de  la  couleur 
10 


et  de  la  lumiere  oil  ses  dons  ont  trouve  quelque  chose  de 
nouveau  a  noter. 

Comme  l'art  de  Turner  est  tres  varie,  il  a  ete  necessaire 
d'en  illustrer  les  modifications,  et  nous  ne  pouvons  faire 
mieux  que  de  parcourir  les  reproductions  en  demi-ton  afin 
de  pouvoir  suivre  les  premiers  degres  de  ces  transforma- 
tions. 

La  premiere  illustration  representant  Folly  Bridge  et 
Bacon'  sTower  a  ete  dessinee,  d'apres  une  gravure,  par  Turner 
a  l'age  de  douze  ans;  elle  a  ete  faite  avec  une  aisance  et 
une  assurance  bien  rares  chez  un  enfant  si  jeune.  On  v  re- 
marque de  l'air  dans  le  ciel  et  un  sentiment  tres  remar- 
quable  dans  la  forme  des  nuages  que  1'onvoit  souventdans 
les  ciels  d'Angleterre  apres  un  orage.  Les  monuments  se 
tiennent  droit  et  montrent  que  le  gout  de  Turner  pour  «  la 
musique  figee  de  1'architecture  »  ne  lui  est  pas  venu  chez 
son  bon  ami  M.  Hardwick  qui  le  prit  comme  eleve  deux 
ans  plus  tard,  probablement  en  1789.  Remarquez  aussique 
le  jeune  Turner,  dans  le  choix  de  son  sujet,  semble  pres- 
sentir  son  avenir  dans  l'aquarelle,  car  on  y  trouve  des 
motifs  de  composition  qui  I'attireront  tres  fortement  long- 
temps  apres.  Quand  cessa-t-il  d'aimer  les  ponts  et  les 
tours,  les  bateaux  remplis  de  figures  animees,  et  l'eau  avec 
ses  delicieux  problemes  de  reflexions ! 

La  tour,  dans  ce  premier  dessin,  est  un  peu  gatee  par  la 
vilaine  maison  sur  la  gauche  et  cette  erreur  est  rendue  plus 
apparente  par  le  bateau  qui  attire  le  regard  sur  la  maison. 
Et  cependant  on  voit  que  cette  tour  etait  le  point  le  plus 
intcressant  pour  l'enfant,  et  la  difficulte  qui  consistait  a  la 
reunir  au  pont  montre  bien  que  Turner,  des  l'age  de 
douze  ans,  comprenait  fort  bien  le  principal  merite  des 
gravures  qu'il  copiait.  Une  derniere  remarque  :  la  reflexion 
du  bateau  a  voile  est  rendue  avec  habilete  et  finesse,  elle 
prouve  une  observation  personnelle  comme  celle  qui,  vers 
la  meme  annee,  engageait  Turner  a  reproduire  le  ciel  dans 
les  carreaux  de  fenetres  des  dessins  qu'il  faisail  pour  les 
architectes.  L'un  d'entre  eux,  M.  Dobson,  n'apprecia  pas 
la  verite  de  cette  observation  et  dit  a  Turner  que  les  mon- 
tants  des  fenetres  devaient  etre  peints  en  noir  et  les  car- 
reaux en  gris.  «[Cela  gatera  mon  dessin  »,  repondit  Turner. 
«  Mieux  vaut  gater  votre  dessin  que  mon  art  »,  repliqua 
l'architecte.  Le  jeune  gargon  s'inclina  et  quitta  ensuite 
M.  Dobson. 

Le  paysage  alpestre  de  la  seconde  illustration  marque 
une  transition  conlplete  dans  la  direction  d'art  du  jeune 
Turner.  II  travaille  maintenant  sous  Cozens,  ce  grand 
maitre  du  style  neutre  en  aquarelle,  qui,  le  premier,  montra 
a  ses  compatriotes  ce  qu'il  y  a  de  grand  et  de  mysterieux 
dans  les  scenes  de  montagnes.  Constable,  dit-on,  estimait 
Cozens  comme  le  plus  grand  des  paysagistes,  opinion  exa- 
geree  sans  doute,  mais  qui  explique  l'ascendant  de  Cozens 
sur  l'esprit  impressionnable  de  Turner.  On  ne  sait  pas  exac- 
tement  quand  il  commenca  a  travailler  dans  la  maniere  de 
Cozens;  j'inclinerais  a  croire  que  c'est  en  1793,  annee  pen- 


Les  Monochromes  de  Turner  et  ses  premieres  Aquarelles 


dant  laquelle  il  suivit  les  classes  de  dessin  du  Dr  Monroe 
dans  la  maison  d'Adelphi  Terrace.  Cette  illustration  doit 
etre  considered,  a  monavis,  comme  la  premiere  tentative 
de  Turner  pour  penetrer  les  secrets  du  style  dans  l'ceuvre 
de  son  grand  contemporain;  il  y  a  la,  en  effet,  des  fautes 
de  methode  technique  et  les  lignes  qui  forment  les  monta- 
gnes  ne  sont  pas  de  celles  que  Cozens  aurait  tolerees.  Vue 
a  part,  elle  ne  manque  pas  de  finesse,  mais  quand  on  la 
regarde  avec  le  ciel  et  les  montagnes  en  dessous,  elle  fait 
un  effet  desagreable. 

Beaucoup  mieux,  sous  tons  les  rapports,  est  Tintern 
Abbey,  date  de  la  meme  epoque,  1793,  et  qui  forme  la 
troisieme  illustration.  On  ne  saurait  etudier  avec  trop  de 
soin  cette  piece  d'architecture  gracieuse  et  harmonieuse. 
Elle  se  ressent  evidemment  de  ce  que  Turner  apprit  de 
Sandby  et  de  Hearne,  mais  elle  a  en  plus  une  force  et  une 
elegance  qui  n'appartiennent  qu'a  Turner.  Ici,  on  jugera 
bien  la  valeur  du  jeune  peintre  dans  la  facon  structurale 
dont  il  a  rendu  un  bloc  de  maconnerie.  En  regardant  un 
dessin  d'architecture  fait  par  un  artiste  quelconque,  on  se 
dit  :  Voila  un  homme  qui  s'est  leve  de  bonne  heure  pour 
se  mettre  au  travail,  mais  il  s'est  trouve  si  fatigue  en  arri- 
vant  devant  son  monument  que  celui-ci  a  perdu  toute 
consistance.  Avec  Turner,  au  contraire,  chaque  masse  de 
pierre  est  bien  assise,  elle  repose  sur  sa  base.  A  vrai  dire, 
son  architecture  semble  plutot  construite  que  dessinee,  et 
elle  est  d'autant  plus  gracieuse  que  l'oeil  sent  que,  comme 
Antee,  elle  gagne  en  force  eten  majeste  en  s'appuyant  sur 
le  sol. 

L'etudiant  se  souviendra  de  cette  caracterlstique  de  ['ar- 
chitecture de  Turner,  et  continuera  son  examen  par  les 
etonnants  dessins  de  Vlntdrieur  de  la  Cathedral V  d'Ely, 
ou  par  l'admirable  vue  de  Lincoln,  dat.ee  1795,  que  Ton 
verra  dans  la  quatrieme  reproduction. 

Dewint,  a  ses  debuts,  peignit  cette  meme  cathedrale  a 
peu  pres  du  meme  endroit ;  mais  sa  grande  aquarelle,  au- 
jourd'hui  au  Kensington  Museum,  est  bien  moins  interes- 
sante  que  1'ceuvre  de  Turner,  alors  age  de  vingt  ans. 

On  ignore  generalernent  que  la  passion  de  Turner  pour  1'ar- 
chiteeture  s'exprime  par  des  interieurs  tres  modestes.  On 
trouvera  dans  la  cinquieme  reproduction  une  etude  deli- 
cieusement  finie  d'une  cuisine  au  rez-de-chaussee  d'une 
maison  de  Maiden  Lane,  oil  une  vieille  femme,  la  mere  de 
Turner,  dit-on,  est  assise  pres  d'un  feu,  entouree  de  tous 
les  ustensiles  de  menage  en  un  desordre  apparent.  C'est 
un  petit  tableau  d'une  facture  aussi  fine  qu'un  Steenwick, 
mais  d'une  intimite  plus  grande  et  d'un  sentiment  plus 
doux.  La  lumiere  et  les  ombres  sont  menagees  avec  une 
habilete  eonsommee,  et  la  facture  des  natures-mortes  ne 
pourrait  etre  mieux  traitee.  Comparez  cette  petite  piece 
avec  la  cascade  de  la  meme  page,  la  difference  qui  existe 
entre  elles  vous  rappellera  la  variete  des  gouts  et  de  l'ob- 
servation  de  Turner. 

A  la  page  suivante,  dans  le  Chateau  de  IVarkviorth, 


peint  en  1799,  un  nouveau  Turner  se  revele,  un  Turner 
fortement  influence  par  son  ami  et  guide,  Tom  Girtin, 
qui  nous  donne  deja  l'avant-gout  de  ce  dessin  complique 
de  ces  effets  d'orage  qui,  dans  les  derniers  temps,  firent  de 
lui  un  dramaturge  si  vrai  dans  l'interpretation  des  pheno- 
menes  naturels.  Celui  qui  oublie  combien  I'instinct  drama- 
tique  est  fort  chez  Turner,  risque  cTe  tomber  dans  bien  des 
erreurs  de  critique.  Mais  le  Chateau  de  IVarkwortb  est 
remarquable  par  autre  chose  que  son  dessin  severe  et  le 
mouvement  des  nuages  d'orage  qui  roulent  derriere  le 
chateau.  Le  coloris  est  dans  le  genre  de  Girtin,  les  gris 
neutres  des  premiers  temps  ont  disparu,  on  sent  I'effort 
pour  donner  de  la  profondeur  aux  ombres,  de  la  richesse 
aux  demi-tons;  il  y  a  la  de  l'habilete  technique  et  une 
independance  egale  a  celle  des  peintures  a  l'huile. 

Apres  cette  forte  et  puissante  etude,  c'est  un  desappoin- 
tement  de  voir  deux  etudes  d'Ecosse,  au  cravon,  sur  papier, 
oil  le  peintre,  cherchant  l'effet  et  la  force,  a  rencontre  l'in- 
succes.  A-t-il  ete  influence  par  ces  montagnes  et  ces  vallees, 
etait-ilmal  dispose  ?Je  nesais,mais  pour  cette  raison  ou  pour 
toute  autre,  cette  serie  est  mauvaise  et  indigne  de  Turner. 
Mais,  s'il  ne  reussit  pas  l'Ecosse  en  1800-01,  il  retrouva 
toute  sa  maitrise  quand,  deux  ans  plus  tard,  il  fit  son  pre- 
mier voyage  sur  le  continent,  et  dessina  cette  extraordi- 
naire suite  d'etudes  de  Savoie  et  de  Piemont,  qui  est  au- 
jourd'hui  a  la  National  Gallery.  Ces  etudes  vous  emeuvent 
comme  une  musique  solennelle;  il  serait  a  souhaiter  que 
les  reductions  qui  en  sont  faites  permissent  de  leur  rendre 
pleine  justice. 

Elles  sont  de  deux  sortes.  L'etudiant  trouvera  que  les 
crayons  sont  aussi  attrayants,  aussi  instructifs  que  des 
aquarelles.  Les  premieres  ont  ete  decrites  par  Rus'kin 
comme  ayant  ete  faites  a  l'aide  d'un  crayon  tres  mou  sur 
papier  sombre,  puis  touchees  de  blanc.  Mais  il  serait  plus 
exact  de  dire  que  le  papier  est  d'un  jaune  sale  et  que  ['exe- 
cution est  un  melange  de  craie  noire  et  de  crayon  de 
plomb.  Le  crayon  est  destine  a  donner  un  ton  gris  a  la 
craie  noire,  les  grandes  lumieres  sont  posees  avec  une 
brosse,  le  precede  ici  est  exceptionnel  et  merite  d'etre  de- 
crit  exactement.  Une  des  caracteristiques  des  esquisses  et 
de  toutes  les  oeuvres  de  Turner,  consiste  dans  l'emploi 
fort  rare  de  lignes  diagonales,  allant  de  droite  a  gauche. 
Les  traits  sont  tres  naturels  dans  les  ombres,  mais  Turner 
les  a  certainement  employes  moins  que  lesautres  artistes. 
II  faut  le  noter  ici,  non  pour  1'inteVet  au  point  de  vue 
technique,  mais  parce  que  Turner  travaillait  pour  un 
effet  immediat  qu'il  desirait  indiquer  rapidement  en  dessi- 
nant  sa  composition. 

Je  ne  crois  pas  que  les  dessins  de  Turner  aient  ete  faits 
devant  la  nature.  lis  venaient  probablement  de  quel- 
ques  rapides  notes  au  crayon  qu'il  emportait  dans  son 
auberge. 

Quant  aux  esquisses  des  Alpes,  en  aquarelles,  il  faut  les 
voir  pour  les  apprecier.  Les  descriptions  seraient  inutiles.  II 

'■it 


Les  dernieres  Aquarelles 


ne  iaut  pas  oublier  qu'elles  servirent  de  documents  pour  la 
composition  de  quelques-unes  de  ses  plus  fameuses  aqua- 
relles, comme  les  Chutes  du  Reichenbach  (i8o4),  le  Pont 
du  Diable  (1804),  Chamonix.  Mer  de  Glace  (1804),  dont 
on   trouvera  ici  de   belles  reproductions  en  demi-ton. 

Nous  sommes  arrives  maintenant  a  l'apogee  de  la  pre- 
miere partie  de  la  carriere  de  Turner  aquarelliste,  et  nous 
pouvons  signaler  Chamonix  comme  la  plus  belle  ceuvre 
de  toutes.  La  complexite  du  dessin  dans  l'enchevetrement 
des  montagnes  est  ombree  avec  une  maitrise  parfaite;  la 
grandeur  desolee  de  toute  la  composition  est  adoucie  par 
la  grace  des  chevres.  Turner  va  maintenant  aborder  d'au- 
tres  styles  delicieux,  mais  ses  plus  fervents  admirateurs 
peuvent  regarder  avec  un  plaisir  sans  cesse  croissant  les 
aquarelles  qu'il  peignit  pendant  et  immediatement  apres 
son  voyage  sur  le  continent.  Et  la  raison  n'en  est  pas  seu- 
lement  dans  l'impression  qu'il  ressentit  en  abordant  pour 
la  premiere  fois  la  grandeur  des  Alpes.  Dans  les  vastes  so- 
litudes de  ces  montagnes,  il  se  souvint  de  la  maniere  de 
son  ami  Girtin  et  il  employa  a  sa  facon  ce  que  1'art  de 
Girtin  lui  avait  appris.  Girtin  etait  mort,  mais  son  esprit 
reprit  vie  dans  les  Alpes  et  atteignit  une  nouvelle  grandeur 
dans  l'ceuvre  de  Turner. 

Walter  Shaw  Sparrow. 


J^ES  DERNIERES  AQUARELLES. 

En  afiranchissant  l'art  de  l'aquarelle  anglaise,  Girtin  et 
Turner  lui  faisaient  quitter  son  modeste  apprentissage 
au  service  de  la  gravure  topographique  et  la  mettaient  a 
meme  de  trouver  un  stimulant  et  une  voie  independante  i 
travers  les  mysteres  de  la  nature  exterieure.  L'aquarelle 
devint,  a  partir  de  ce  moment,  la  digne  rivale  de  la  pein- 
ture  a  l'huile. 

Nous  ne  disons  pas  cela  pour  deprecier  en  quoi  que  ce 
soit  l'ceuvre  de  Turner  et  de  ses  amis  dans  cette  maniere 
de  teintes  neutres  que  les  graveurs  jugeaient  si  utile  pour 
leur  traduction  en  blanc  et  noir.  On  a  l'habitude  d'en 
parler  sur  un  ton  d'excuse,  bien  que  Turner  lui  ait  du 
beaucoup  des  qualites  de  son  pinceau  et  de  son  dessin." 
L'usage  qu'il  fit  des  teintes  grises  lui  apprit  a  se  servir  de 
sa  brosse  facilement,  a  fixer  toute  son  attention  sur  le 
dessin  qu'il  avait  devant  lui,  sans  se  laisser  troubler 
par  les  difficultes  qui  se  sentient  dressees  s'il  avait  voulu 
imiter  avec  precision  toutes  les  combinaisons  de  ton  et  de 
couleur  d'une  serie  d'objets.  Les  resultats,  dans  les  jeunes 
mains  de  Turner,  urent  souvent  si  pleins  de  charmes 
qu'ils  semblent  au-dessus  de  toute  critique;  ils  sont  comme 
les  ballades  d'un  peuple  amoureux  de  chansons.  Aujour- 
d'hui,  apres  un  siecle  d'outrages  du  temps,  les  meil- 
12 


leures  de  ces  ceuvres  sont  parmi  celles  que  les  plus 
fins  connaisseurs  aiment  a  reunir  autour  d'eux.  Et 
vraiment  ce  sont  des  amies,  car  elles  donnent  bien 
tout  ce  qu'on  en  attend.  C'est  seulement  quand  nous 
arrivons  au  style  base  sur  Girtin  et  a  l'ceuvre  qui  fut  la 
consequence  du  premier  voyage  sur  le  continent,  que 
Turner  entre  en  conquerant  dans  le  domaine  de  la  cri- 
tique. C'est  le  commencement  d'une  ere  de  transition  et 
jusqu'a  la  decadence  finale  de  son  genie,  l'histoire  des 
aquarelles  du  maitre  est  glorieuse  ;  la  beaute  et  les  fautes 
s'y  rencontrent  souvent  cote  a  cote,  car  Turner  ne  suivit 
jamais  le  sillon  de  la  perfection ;  il  aima  mieux  s'attaquer 
a  de  nouvelles  difficultes  pour  conduire  son  art  a  des  de- 
couvertes  insoupconnees. 

La  periode  de  transition  marque  son  changement  de 
dessinateur  d'aquarelles  en  peintre  d'aquarelles,  et  ce  mo- 
ment qui  clot  la  premiere  etape  des  progres  de  Turner, 
nous  conduit  aux  transformations  ultimes  de  son  genie.  En 
d'autres  termes,  l'emotion  produite  par  sa  premiere  con- 
naissance  des  Alpes  ne  disparut  pas  tout  d'un  coup,  elle  le 
reprit  pendant  de  longues  annees,  chaque  fois  qu'un  sujet 
analogue  s'emparait  de  son  esprit. 

Ainsi  Ton  constate  un  retour  vers  elle  dans  les  dernieres 
peintures  de  Turner,  qui  semblent  appartenir  aux  quatrc 
premieres  annees  du  xixe  siecle,  plus  qu'au  temps  oil  on  la 
remarque  dans  l'oeuvre  du  peintre.  Tous  les  artistes  sont 
sujets,  de  temps  a  autre,  a  des  revenez-y  de  leur  jeunesse 
dans  leurs  sentiments  artistiques,  et  cela  se  voit  chez 
Turner  dans  quelques  admirables  aquarelles,  celles  de  la 
collection  Farnley  Hall  en  particulier.  Le  lecteur  s'en 
rendra  compte  en  examinant  Lancaster  Sand  (w  8), 
Sooneck  et  Bacharach  (W  10),  et  Jokannisber g  (W  11).  Ses 
peintures  furent  toutes  terminees  entre  1820  et  1824;  elles 
sont  done  de  vingt  ans  posterieures  aux  premieres 
etudes  des  Alpes  avec  lesquelles  elles  s'harmonisent  par 
leur  signification.  On  ne  peut  pas  dire  que  l'harmonie  s'e- 
tend  a  toutes  les  qualites  de  technique,  mais  au  fond  leur 
«  psychologic  »  appartient  a  l'esthetisme  du  premier 
voyage  a  l'etranger. 

On  s'est  demande  parfois  avec  surprise  pourquoi  Turner 
abandonna  ce  style  sombre  et  energique  qu'il  rapporta  de 
de  Savoie  et  de  Piemont.  La  question  est  interessante, 
mais  la  reponse  n'est  pas  difficile  a  trouver.  Turner  a  pu 
voir,  meme  avant  de  quitter  1'Angleterre,  que  le  style  de 
Girtin  depassait  les  limites  de  l'aquarelle  et  usurpait  des 
qualites  qui  pouvaient  etre  mieux  rendues  par  la  peinture  a 
l'huile.  Girtin  Iui-meme,  dans  sa  magnifique  peinture  de 
Bridgnorth  (1802),  avait  epuise  toutes  les  ressources  de 
son  style,  et  Turner  lui-meme,  longtemps  avant  sa  Ba- 
taille  du  Fort-Rock,  peinte  en  181 5,  avait  atteint  les  der- 
nieres limites  qui  separent  l'aquarelle  de  la  peinture  a 
l'huile.  La  Bataille  du  Fort-Rock  peut  etre  etudiee  a  la 
National  Gallery.  C'est  une  peinture  d'une  extraordinaire 
vigueur,  et  quiconque  etudie  les  methodes  techniques  de 


Les  dernieres  Aquarelles 


Turner  devra  l'examiner  avec  le  plus  grand  soin.  Turner  a 
employe  tous  les  moyens  pour  obliger  le  medium  a  rem- 
plir  le  role  de  l'huile.  En  regardant  la  surface  de  ce  tableau 
on  remarque  que  le  papier  a  ete  lave,  eponge,  frotte  avec 
un  instrument  a  pointe  thnoussee,  coupe  avec  un  canif, 
traite  de  milk  autres  facons  pour  obtenir  plus  de  force  et 
plus  de  variete  d'execution.  Le  resultat  est  une  lecon  tres 
instructive  pour  penetrer  les  precedes  de  technique  du 
maitre.  Le  peintre  savait  bien  lui-meme  que  dans  ce  genre 
il  n'avait  plus  rien  a  perfectionner ;  il  n'est  done  pas  etonnant 
qu'il  pensat  a  nouveau  aux  graces  de  l'aquarelle  et 
qu'il  abandonnat  la  majeste  et  la  force  pour  la  delicatesse 
et  la  finesse  de  ce  medium.  A  l'avenir,  son  art  penetrera 
dans  les  problemes  de  l'atmosphere,  dans  le  tableau  chan- 
geant  du  ciel  du  matin  au  soir,  et  dans  1'abondance  des 
details  qu'exige  1'infinie  delicatesse  de  touche  et  de  senti- 
ment. En  pensant  a  cela,  on  est  frappe  de  la  quantite 
d'esquisses  et  de  peintures  finies  qui  appartiennent  a  cette 
derniere  expression  de  la  poesie  de  Turner  en  aquarelle. 
Comment  resumer  les  merites  et  les  defauts  de  cette  im- 
mense oeuvre?  Nous  nous  bornerons  a  dire  un  mot  sur 
quelques  points  interessants,  dont  le  plus  important  est 
l'attitude  de  Turner  devant  la  nature. 

A  lui  seul  il  suffirait  a  de  longs  developpements. 
M.  Hamerton,  danr  son  livre  sur  Turner,  y  a  consacre  des 
pages  tres  bien  pensees.  M.  Monkhouse  dans  «  les  Pre- 
miers Aquarellistes  anglais  »,  nous  donne  un  ingenieux 
exemple  qui  nous  fait  toucher  du  doigt  l'habitude  de  Turner 
de  transformer  les  scenes  naturelles. 

Prenez  un  dessin  de  Newcastle -on-Tyne  de  Girtin  et 
comparez-le  avec  la  peinture  d'imagination  de  Turner  sur  le 
meme  sujet  qui  appartient  a  la  serie  des  «  Rivieres  d'An- 
gleterre  ».  M.  Monkhouse  dit  que  si  on  le  compare  avec 
l'aquarelle  de  Girtin,  si  on  l'examine  avec  soin,  «  on 
trouve  le  dessin  de  Girtin  constamment  sous  celui  de 
Turner  :  la  fumee  suit  la  meme  direction,  les  memes 
courbes,  les  memes  lumieres  et  les  memes  formes  se  re- 
trouvent  aux  memes  endroits  quoique  ne  representant  pas 
toujours  les  memes  choses.  Si  ces  coincidences  ne  s'obser- 
vaient  que  dans  les  monuments,  le  doute  pourrait  subsister, 
mais  on  les  rencontre  dans  les  bateaux  et  dans  les  fi- 
gures ».  II  est  done  possible,  sinon  probable,  que  Turner 
se  servit  de  l'aquarelle  de  son  ami  mort  quand  il  travailla 
a  son  Newcast I e-ou-Ty ne .  Mais  comme  la  transformation 
de  tous  les  details  de  cette  composition  est  interessante  ! 
Girtin  represente  la  ville  et  la  riviere  telles  qu'elles  etaient 
entre  1790  et  1800,  alors  que  Turner  evoque  la  New- 
castle d'aujourd'hui.  C'est  de  la  prophetie  en  art,  et  la 
peinture  montre  a  nos  yeux  d'une  maniere  frappante  la 
grandeur  qui  se  degage  de  la  fumee  et  du  travail  d'un  grand 
centre  industriel  de  nos  jours. 

C'est  de  ce  point  de  vue  eleve  et  tout  d'imagination  que 
Turner  regardait  la  nature  et  faisait  connaitre  son  amour 
pour  elle.  On  pourrait  comparer  son  attitude  a  celle  d'un 


poete  pour  sa  maitresse.  Comme  le  poete  qui  chante  en 
vers  le  respect  de  sa  belle,  Turner,  tout  en  negligeant  les 
faits  locaux  et  topographiques,  nous  peint  le  cceur  de  la 
nature,  et  cela  avec  bien  plus  de  variete  et  d'observation 
que  n'importe  quel  peintre  de  paysages. 

Un  grand  nombre  d'ecrivains  ont  analyse  les  caracteres 
speciaux  des  transformations  que  le  genie  de  Turner 
opere  dans  les  paysages.  Mais  nous  preferons  resumer  la 
question  en  montrant  comment  il  agrandissait  les  ele- 
ments d'un  dessin  qui  attirait  sa  sympathie  et  son  interet. 
II  grossissait  les  rivieres  et  surelevait  les  montagnes  et  les 
villes,  il  donnait  a  ses  compositions  compliquees  un  cer- 
tain air  de  grandeur  qui  rappelait  l'etonnant  phenomene  du 
mirage.  Cette  facon  de  faire  de  la  magie  avec  la  nature, 
differe  du  realisme  scientifique  d  'aujourd'hui,  cela  est  bien 
certain,  et  il  y  aurait  beaucoup  a  apprendredu  contraste  de 
ce  procede  avec  le  desir  passionne  d'etre  litteral  qui  nous  a 
donne  des  artistes  comme  Sisley,  Monet  et  autres.  II  y  a 
place  dans  le  domaine  de  l'art  pour  toutes  les  formes  de 
verite  que  l'imagination  peut  decouvrir.  C'est  au  genie  a 
les  trouver.  Les  emotions  esthetiques  de  l'humanite  juge- 
ront,  et  si  ces  emotions  se  transforment  en  un  plaisir 
durable,  l'art  aura  remporte  une  victoire,  quelle  que  soit 
l'attitude  de  l'artiste  vis-a-vis  de  choses  qu'il  a  vues.  Done 
le  point  principal  pour  le  critique  est  que  vous,  spectateur, 
vous  soyez  en  communion  avec  le  but  poursuivi  dans 
l'ceuvre  qui  est  sous  vos  yeux.  Ou  vous  acceptez  Turner 
et  les  idiosyncrasies  de  sa  vision,  ou  vous  devez  aller  vers 
un  autre  peintre  plus  en  accord  avec  vos  propres  gouts. 

En  tous  cas  Interpretation  de  la  nature  par  Turner  etait 
bien  a  lui,  et  elle  nous  rappelle  une  petite  appreciation  que 
Gcethe  faisait  sur  un  double  eclairage  du  soleil  que  Rubens 
avait  introduit  dans  un  de  ses  paysages. 

«  C'est  par  la,  disait  Gcethe,  que  Rubens  se  montre 
grand  et  prouve  au  monde  qu'il  est  au-dessus  de  la  nature 
et  qu'il  la  traite  conformement  a  ses  projets  eleves.  La 
double  lumiere  est  certainement  un  expedient  violent,  con- 
traire  a  la  nature  ;  il  est,  je  le  repete,  plus  grand  que  la 
nature.  C'est  le  coup  du  maitre  par  lequel  il  proclame 
d'une  maniere  generale  au  monde  entier  que  l'art  n'est 
pas  soumis  entierement  aux  necessities  naturelles,  mais 
qu'il  a  des  lois  qui  lui  sont  propres.  » 

Et  Goethe  continue  en  admettant  que  nous  devons  res- 
pecter la  nature  dans  sa  structure  essentielle,  sous  peine 
d'aneantir  la  nature,  en  changeant  la  forme  des  os,  la  po- 
sition des  muscles  et  des  nerfs,  qui  donnent  un  caractere 
particulier  4  chaque  creature.  «  Mais  dans  les  hautes 
regions  de  la  production  artistique,  dit-il,  quand  la 
peinture  devient  reellement  un  tableau,  un  artiste  est 
plus  libre,  il  peut  avoir  recours  aux  fictions,  comme  l'a 
fait  Rubens  dans  la  double  lumiere  de  son  paysage.  » 

Et  Gcethe  resume  toute  la  question  ainsi :  «  L'artiste  a 
une  double  relation  avec  la  nature  ;  il  est  a  la  fois  son 
maitre  et  son  esclave,  II  est  esclave  tant  qu'il  travaille 

13 


Les  dernier es  Aquarelles 


avec  les  choses  terrestres  pour  etre  compris,  mais  il  est 
son  maitre  en  tant  qu'il  soumet  ces  necessites  et  qu'il 
les  fait  obeir.  II  veut  parler  au  monde  dans  line 
synthese,  mais  cette  synthese  tn'existe  pas  dans  la  na- 
ture, elle  est  le  produit  de  son  esprit,  oil  si  vous  le  pre- 
ferez,  d'uti  souffle  divin  et  fecond.  » 

Les  ceuvres  de  Turner  sont  la  pour  servir  d'exemple  a 
r opinion  de  Goethe.  Quel  peintre  plus  que  Turner,  fut  a 
la  fois  le  maitre  et  1'esclave  des  faits  exterieurs !  Dans 
.l'execution  des  details,  il  etait  d'une  fidelite  patiente,  res- 
pectueuse,  inlassable,  et  constamment  il  detruisait  Funite 
d'un  dessin,  pour  s'occuper  —  avec  trop  de  soins  —  des 
differentes  parties  des  accessoires.  Observez  aussi  a  ce  pro- 
pos,  Fetonnante  diversite  du  talent  de  Turner,  pour  toutes 
les  sortes  de  paysages,  etn'oubliez  pas  que  cela  Fengageaa 
adoucir,  a  completer  son  ceuvre,  en  y  introduisant  des 
choses  gaies  ou  tristes,  de  petites  scenes,  du  mouvement. 
A  l'exception  d'une  sombre  et  niajestueuse  scene  de  fo- 
ret,  il  trouva  des  sujets  dans  tous  les  paysages  que  FEu- 
rope  lui  offrit,  et  il  n'est  pas  une  scene  de  quelque  im- 
portance ou  on  ne  trouve  un  sentiment  d'humain  interet. 
C'est  la  que  nous  rencontrons  la  note  epique  de  son  ta- 
lent, elle  est  parfois  dramatique,  parfois  comique,  et  con- 
fine meme  au  burlesque.  A  une  epoque  ou  les  peintres 
vivent  dans  leur  reve,  ou  bien  se  transforment  en  courtiers  en 
quete  de  commandes  de  portraits,  Turner  sentit  ce  qu'il  y 
avait  de  drame  dans  la  vie  de  son  pays  et  vibra  a  toutes 
ses  vicissitudes.  Tout  ce  qui  etait  national  toucha  son 
cceur.  Victoires  nationales,  mort  de  Nelson,  incendie  des 
Chambres  du  Parlement,  plaisirs  de  la  chasse,  fatigues  de 
ja  peche  le  long  des  cotes,  tout  cela  attira  son  genie  et 
entra  dans  Fart.  La  place  nous  manque  pour  donner  ici  de 
nombreux  exemples  de  la  joie  de  Turner  peignant  un 
homrae  en  lutte  avec  les  elements  ou  jouissant  du 
plaisir  du  plein  air.  Voyez  (W  i),  cette  belle  eau  forte 
sur  Pembroke-Castle.  Un  grand  orage  vient  d'eclater, 
une  desolation  s'etend  partout  sur  le  rivage,  le  naufrage, 
le  danger  pour  les  bateaux  sur  la  cote.  Beaucoup  de  pein- 
tres se  contenteraient  de  cela,  mais  Turner  savait  que  la 
dure  vie  du  pecheur  se  passe  dans  la  pluie,  dans  la  souf- 
france,  il  en  etait  emu,  et  cela  lui  servit  a  balancer  la  lu- 
mjere,  Fombre  et  le  dessin  de  son  tableau. 

Dans  Frustration  de  Lancaster  Sands  (W.  8)  on 
remarque  le  meme  gout  de  marin  pour  le  vent  de  mer  et 
les  ciels  charges  de  nuages.  Pendant  qu'il  travaillait,  sa 
pensee  courait  a  cote  de  ce  coach  pesant  et  s'y  interessait. 
Le  fait  de  produire  une  impression  avec  cela,  place  Turner 
au  premier  rang  des  acteurs.  Mais  il  faut  noter  ici  que  de 
temps  a  autre  Turner  laissait  sa  passion  pour  la  mer  Fen- 
trainer  en  dehors  du  caractere  de  son  sujet. 

On  s'en  apercoit  frequemment  dans  la  serie  des  «  Ports 
d'Angleterre  ».  Le  mot  port  implique  la  securite,  le  repos, 
la  paix;  la  peinture  d'un  port  doit  etre,  au  point  de  vue 
esthetique,  sans  vagues  qui  se  brisent  et  sans  mal  de  mer. 
•14 


Mais  Turner  ne  s'occupait  que  de  la  valeur  commerciale 
d'un  nom,  et  dans  la  plupart  des  ports  d'Angleterre  il 
jouait  au  matelot  avec  un  profond  mepris  pour  l'impro- 
priete  de  son  titre.  Pour  toutes  ces  raisons,  a  considerer 
les  tableaux,  ces  aquarelles  sont  extraordinaires  et  caracte- 
ristiques,  et  Sheerness  comme  YHnmber  sont  parmi  les 
meilleures  de  ses  marines.  Le  Portsmouth  (W.  18)  a  beau- 
coup  de  charmes,  bien  que  le  raccourci  du  navire  soit 
defectueux,  la  forme  du  bateau  est  tellement  cylindrique 
qu'il  semble  impossible  que  le  vent  dans  les  voiles  puisse 
arriver  a  faire  mouvoir  cette  masse  de  bois.  Le  IVhitby 
(W.  16)  est  beau,  le  Scarborough  (W.  13)  a  bien  Fair 
d'un  port  tranquille  et  serein.  C'est  un  tableau  tout  en  or 
ambre  et  bleu  translucide.  Tout  y  est  ensoleille  et  plein 
d'une  nonchalance  des  bords  de  la  mer.  Le  brisement  indo- 
lent des  vagues,  les  navires  reflechissant  leur  coque,  dans 
Feau  tranquille,  le  chien  qui  fait  .  la  garde  devant  le 
panier  aux  provisions,  tout  contribue  a  donner  a  ce  tableau 
une  impression  de  contentement. 

Nous  devons  maintenant  passer  a  un  trait  des  aquarelles 
de  Turner  qui  frappe  au  premier  coup  d'ceil.  Je  veux 
parler  de  l'impeccable  elegance  de  forme  et  de  ligne  dans 
toutes  les  parties  d'un  tableau.  Ce  charme  particulier  n'est 
pas  limite  a  des  details  comme  la  courbe  des  branches, 
Fenchevetrement  des  feuilles,  la  ligne  d'un  bateau,  Fondu- 
lation  d'une  vallee  fermee  par  des  montagnes  :  on  le  trouve 
dans  les  plus  belles  peintures  des  Alpes,  dans  les  plus 
belles  pieces  representant  une  tempete  en  mer.  C'est  ce  qui 
lui  permit  d'interpreter  si  bien  toutes  sortes  d'effets  de 
nuages,  et  il  avait  tant  de  gout  pour  rendre  les  nuages  que 
les  mots  sont  insuffisants  pour  en  exprimer  la  beaute.  Et 
pour  apprecier  cette  elegance  de  Turner,  on  notera  la  gri.cs 
exquise  qu'il  mit  a  peindre  les  demi-tons  gris  sous  un 
cumulus.  Les  gris  de  Turner  sont,  a  la  verite,  aussi  varies 
qu'ils  sont  exquis,  mais  ils  ont  des  rivaux  dans  les  gris  de 
Muller,  de  Cox  et  de  Hunt. 

Le  morceau  en  couleurs  representant  Arundel  Castle 
marque  une  autre  phase  charmante  et  d'une  egale  valeur. 
Que  de  grace  dans  l'execution  des  bois  qui  garnissent  les 
pentes,  dans  le  lointain  qui  s'estompe !  Les  cerfs  craintifs, 
en  alerte,  sont  aussi  admirables.  Turner  ne  peignit  jamais 
bien  que  les  animaux  et  les  oiseaux  qui  Fattiraient  par  leur 
elegance;  aussi  preTerait-il  les  cerfs  aux  chiens,  les  chevres 
de  montagne  aux  troupeaux  qui  paturent  dans  la  plaine.  Le 
plumage  des  oiseaux  charmait  son  sens  de  la  couleur,  mais 
ceux  qu'il  peignit  furent  tous  jolis  et  gracieux,  comme  la 
sarcelle  de  la  planche  W.  7 ;  on  trouvera  a  la  meme 
page  (W.  6)  une  inimitable  etude  de  poisson,  plus  exquise 
et  plus  spontanee  que  n'importe  quelle  nature-morte  de 
Hunt. 

Enfin,  nous  arrivons  aux  vignettes  qui  montrent  toute  la 
grace,  la  delicatesse,  la  legerete  de  Turner.  On  s'est 
demande  pourquoi  un  homme  possedant  des  dons  aussi 
transcendants  avait  pu  perdre  tant  de  temps  a  dessiner  des 


Turner  et  ses  Graveurs 


vignettes  en  aquarelles.  Shakespeare  n'a  pas  perdu  une 
heure  a  ecrire  des  choses  sans  valeur.  Pourquoi  Turner,  le 
Shakespeare  de  Fart  anglais,  at-il  illustre  de  vignettes  les 
poemes  de  Rogers?  La  reponse  est  simple.  Les  vignettes 
lui  permirent  de  gagner  de  l'argent.  Elles  ont  des  difficultes 
speciales  et  Turner  voulait  montrer  que  dans  un  carre 
de  quelques  centimetres  il  pouvait  representer  des  espaces 
de  centaines  de  kilometres  et  produire  bien  d'autres  effets 
qu'on  lui  demandait.  , 

L'ambition  de  Turner  etait  de  travailler  rapidement  pour 
produire  beaucoup,  et  il  passa  rarement  plusieurs  jours  a 
terminer  l'aquarelle  la  plus  poussee.  II  avait  acquis  une 
telle  somme  de  connaissances  par  sa  constante  pratique  de 
l'esquisse  au  crayon  qu'il  avait  dans  son  atelier,  tout 
ce  qui  lui  etait  necessaire  pour  l'ceuvre  en  train. 
Leitch,  l'aquarelliste ,  racontait  a  un  de  mes  amis 
qu'il  accompagna  un  jour  Pickersgill  a  l'atelier  de 
Turner  et  qu'il  eut  l'honneur  de  voir  le  grand  artiste  au 
travail.  11  y  avait  la  quatre  chassis  ayant  chacun  une 
poignee  dans  le  bas.  Turner,  apres  avoir  esquisse  son  sujet 
tres  rapidement,  prenait  le  chassis  par  la  poignee  et  plon- 
geait  le  dessin  dans  une  cuvette  d'eau  par  le  cote,  puis, 
rapidement,  il  peignait  dans  les  tons  principaux  qu'il  vou- 
lait donner,  mettant  teinte  sur  teinte  jusqu'a  ce  que  le 
premier  etat  fut  termine.  Laissant  alors  le  premier  dessin 
a  secher,  il  prenait  le  second  chassis  et  repetait  la  meme 
operation.  Les  quatre  dessins  etaient  ainsi  en  train, 
le  premier  se  trouvant  sec  etait  pret  a  recevoir  les  dernieres 
touches,  et  Leitch  avait  ete  frappe1  du  bon  sens  de  tout  le 
procede. 

En  regie  generale,  Turner  ne  melangeait  pas  ses  methodes 
de  travail,  il  peignait  entierement  en  gouaches  transpa- 
rentes. 

Son  but,  avec  les  teintes  transparentes,  etant  la  purete^  et 
le  brillant,  il  avait  soin  que  le  papier  blane  se  vit  a  travers 
les  myriades  de  particules  de  couleurs  qui  flottaient  au- 
dessus.  Cela  fait,  il  terminait  avec  un  reseau  de  Iignes 
exquises  qui  relevait  le  dessin  et  il  laissait  la  peinture  en 
dessous  apparaitre  sous  les  mailles  du  reseau.  C'est  ainsi 
que  Turner,  dans  ses  dernieres  aquarelles,  reproduisit  l'im- 
mensite  et  representa  la  lumiere  de  la  nature. 

Dans  1'emploi  de  la  couleur,  Turner  fut  inimitable;  il 
obtenait  l'effet  du  pastel,  qui  a  tant  de  charme,  sans  paraitre 
le  moins  du  monde  embarrasse.  Presque  toujours  son  papier 
est  gris,  comrae  dans  la  serie  des  rivieres  de  France  et 
aussi  dans  beaucoup  d'esquisses  de  Venise  peu  connues 
qui  sont  a  la  National  Gallery.  La  peinture  blanche  est 
souvent  appliquee  en  empatements  tres  epais,  tandis  que 
dans  la  serie  des  Vues  de  France  la  couleur  est  employee 
avec  beaucoup  plus  de  parcimonie,  et  le  papier  gris  sert  la 
d'agent  de  couleur  d'une  grande  habilete  et  de  beaucoup 
d'effet.  Les  reproductions  rendent  bien  les  dessins  de 
Turner,  Promenades  sur  la  Seine,  et  il  serait  agreable  d'en 
parler  beaucoup  si  les  mots  pouvaient   exprimer  leur 


beaute  et  leurs  defauts.  L'importancc  des  figures  est  ca  et  la 
trop  grand,  comme  dans  1'Hotel  de  Ville  et  le  Pont 
d'Arcole  (W.  31),  quelques  vues  des  ponts  sont  d'un 
dessin  lourd,  rare  defaut  chez  Turner,  mais  on  sent  cepen- 
dant  que  Turner  aimait  la  France  et  qu'il  etait  heureux  d'y 
dessiner. 

II  nous  faut  le  laisser  ici,  travaillant  avec  ardeur  sur  cette 
terre  qui,  suivant  le  mot  de  sir  Philipp  Sydney,  n'a  jamais 
ete  pour  nous  que  notre  douce  ennemie,  voisinage 
plus  enviable  assurement  que  celui  d'un  candide  et  insup- 
portable ami. 

Walter  Shaw  Sparrow 


f  ^  BURNER  ET  SES  GRAVEURS. 

Un  grand  peintre  dirigeant  tout  un  groupe  de  graveur 
occupes  a  interpreter  ses  ceuvres,  c'est  un  spectacle  qui  n'est 
pas  rare  dans  l'histoire  de  l'art  pendant  les  quatre  derniers 
siecles,  et  c'est  ce  que  nous  avons  vu  avec  Turner,  probable- 
ment  pour  la  derniere  fois.  Raphael  avait  confie  le  soin  de 
traduire  son  ideal  a  Marc-Antonio  Raimondi,  a  Agostino 
Veneziano  et  a  Marco  di  Ravenna,  Rubens  avait  su  mettre 
a  rharmonie  de  son  genie  Scheltins-a-Bolswert',  Lucas 
Vostermann  et  Paulus  Pontius.  Mais  tandis  que  les  gra- 
veurs de  Raphael,  travaillant  presque  exclusivement  sur  des 
dessins  a  la  craie  et  a  la  plume,  n'avaient  qu'a  suivre 
la  correction  de  la  forme  et  de  la  purete  du  trait, 
tandis  que  ceux  de  Rubens  avaient  cet  avantage  de 
suivre  un  maitre  non  moins  admirable  par  son  riche  colo- 
ns que  par  son  clair-obscur,  les  graveurs  qui  entreprirent 
la  transcription  des  ceuvres  de  Turner  en  blanc  et  noir 
trouverent,  des  le  debut,  d'insurmontables  difficultes,  car 
la  ligne  et  le  clair-obscur,  ces  limites  caracteristiques  de  la 
gravure  telle  que  la  comprenaient  les  vieux  maitres,  etaient 
des  choses  inconnues  au  genie  de  Turner  et  particuliere- 
ment  a  la  plus  grande  partie  des  dessins  qu'il  preparait 
pour  la  gravure.  Ce  qui  les  caracterise  ce  sont  les  tons  tres 
pousses  des  premiers  plans,  des  teintes  moins  intenses 
mais  non  moins  prononcees  pour  les  distances  et  le  ciel, 
et  une  manipulation  de  la  surface  du  papier. 

La  tache  des  graveurs  exigeait  done  un  jugement  egal  a 
l'habilete  technique  et  Ton  peut  affirmer  que  malgre  1'en- 
trainement  des  graveurs  de  la  premiere  moitie  duxixe  siecle 
■jui  possedaient  des  ressources  mecaniques  beaucoup  plus 
etenJues  qu'auparavant,  ils  auraient  ete  inferieurs  a  leur 
tache  s'ils  n'avaient  pas  eu  derriere  eux  le  maitre  qui  surveillait 
constamment  les  progres  de  leurs  planches.  (L'inferiorite 
sensible  de  ces  graveurs  le  jour  oil  la  main  du  peintre  ne 
fut  plus  la  pour  les  guider  prouve  a  l'evidence  que  notre 
affirmation  n'est  pas  exageree.  Si  Turner  put  se  vanter 

15 


Turner  et  ses  Graveurs 


d'avoir,  pendant  sa  vie,  faire  revivre  les  conditions  qui 
inspirerent  les  grandes  ecoles  de  Rome  et  d'Anvers,  [i^ 
laissa,  apres  lui,  un  groupe  de  graveurs  qui  furent  seulement 
capables  de  produire  —  avec  un  enthousiasme  egal  a 
I'ecole parniesane  de  Toschi,  —  des  copies  qui  avaient  toutes 
les  qualites  saut  celle  de  la  ressemblance  avec  1'original. 

La  premiere  gravure  d'apres  Turner,  a  l'epoque  oil  il 
commencait  sa  carriere  de  dessinateur  pour  des  publica- 
tions topographiques ,  fut  publiee  dans  le  Copper 
Plate  Magazine,  du  ier  mai  1794,  alors  qu'il  avait 
19  ans.  Le  jeune  artiste  ne  pouvait  pas  esperer, 
pour  interpreter  son  ceuvre,  un  des  meilleurs  graveurs  de 
Londres,  mais  il  faut  reconnaitre  qu'il  fut  particulierement 
malheureux  dans  les  premieres  interpretations  de  ses 
ceuvres  en  blanc  et  noir.  On  peut  dire  qu'en  dehors  de 
leur  valeur  biograpnique,  les  25  planches  executees  d'apres 
ses  dessins  anterieurs  a  1799  n'ont  aucun  interet  artistique. 
Mais  si  la  fortune  ne  lui  fut  pas  favorable  au  debut,  il  eut 
une  compensation  pour  les  deux  dessins  qui  furent  graves 
pour  servir  de  frontispices  a  {'Oxford  Almanacb.  La  repu- 
tation de  cet  almanach  qui  avait  presque  un  siecle  de  tradi- 
tion devant  lui,  assurait  la  collaboration  d'un  graveur 
connu  et  habile,  et  les  4,000  francs  payes  a  James  Basire 
pour  graver  sur  cuivre  chacun  de  ces  dessins,  ont  certaine- 
ment  profite  a  Turner  autant  que  la  modeste  somme  de 
250  francs  qu'il  recut.  Ce  fut  certainement  fort  honora- 
ble pour  Turner,  age  de  vingt-quatre  ans,  d'etre  appele  a 
continuer  des  artistes  comme  Edward  et  Michael  Rooker 
qui  avaient  fait  de  ces  frontispices  de  l'almanach  des  ceuvres 
d'une  rare  distinction.  Nous  n'avonsrien  a  objecter  si  Turner 
appreciant  l'honneurqui  lui  etait  fait,  s'entint  rigoureusement 
a  la  ligne  tracee  par  ses  predecesseurs.  Quant  a  Basire  — 
graveur  excellent  mais  un  peu  sec,  eleve  dans  les  traditions 
de  la  vieille  ecole  —  il  n'est  sans  doute  pour  rien  dans  les 
efforts  faits  pour  ajouter  quelque  chose  a  la  composition 
architecturale,  aux  effets  atmospheriques  ainsi  que  cela  fut 
le  cas  dans  les  ceuvres  plus  importantes  de  Turner.  11 
existe  au  British  Museum,  une  epreuve  d'essai  de  Oriel 
College  retouchee  a  la  craie  qui  prouve  que  le  peintre, 
malgre  la  difference  d'age  et  de  reputation  exerca  un  certain 
controle  sur  son  graveur. 

Turner  executa  dix  dessins  pour  l'almanach,  deux  lui 
furent  payes  en  1799,  un,  Merlon  College  Cbapel,  en  1801, 
les  sept  autres  (dont  six  seulement  furent  graves)  en  1803- 
1804  :  il  recut  pour  chacun  la  meme  somme  de  250  francs. 
Toutes  les  planches  sont  signees  du  nom  de  James  Basire, 
mais  M.  Wedmore  dans  son  «  Dictionnaire  de  Biographie 
Nationale  »  s'est  demande  lequel  des  membres  de  la  tamille 
Basire,  qui  compte  plusieurs  generations  de  graveurs  emi- 
nents,  travailla  sur  les  dessins  de  Turner.  Comme  Paine 
James  Basire  mourut,  d'apres  M.  Wedmore,  en  1802, 
il  ne  put  graver  que  les  trois  premiers,  et  son  petit-fils,  ne 
en  1796,  n'a  pas  du  commencer  l'exercice  de  son  art  avant 
l'apparition  du  dernier. 
16 


En  suivant  l'ordre  chronologique  aussitot  apres  le  der- 
nier de  ces  en-tetes  d'almanach,  la  premiere  ceuvre  gravee 
oil  nous  reconnaissons  aujourd'hui  le  style  distinctif  de 
Turner  nous  donne  tout  d'abord  Fimpression  que  le  genie 
du  peintre  flamboie  d'un  soudain  eclat,  mais  ensuite 
on  se  dir.  que  les  dessins  de  l'almanach  datent  deja  de  huit 
ans,  qu'ils  ont  ere  executes  un  peu  dans  la  forme  ancienne 
et  que  Turner  a  peint  depuis  cette  epoque  et  Macon  et 
Spitbead  et  d'autres  grands  tableaux  a  Fhuile,  qu'il  a 
execute  ses  grandes  aquarelles  de  Suisse  et  qu'il  a  public 
vingt  planches  du  Liber  studiorum . 

Les  evenements  de  la  carriere  de  Turner  sont  communs 
dans  l'histoire  de  l'art  anglais.  Ce  qui  est  plus  rare  c'est 
l'ensemble  des  circonstances  qui  ont  amene  en  scene  tout 
un  groupe  de  graveurs  accomplis,  prets  a  repandre  l'ideal 
que  le  genie  du  peintre  a  realise  en  avancant,  et  1'on  n'a 
pas  assez  tenu  compte  de  {'intuition  de  Yimprcsario  qui 
sut  reunir  toutes  ces  forces  et  inaugurer  cette  periode  bril- 
lante,  la  derniere  dans  les  annales  de  la  gravure  anglaise. 

John  Britton  —  dont  l'ouvrage  les  Beaux-Arts  de 
I'ecole  anglaise,  publia  le  Pope's  Villa  de  John  Pye  — 
aisait  partie  d'une  race  d'antiquaires,  dessinateurs,  auteurs 
et  editeurs  que  mit  en  lumiere  la  mode  pour  les  ouvrages 
sur  l'archeologie  du  moyen  age  si  recherches  dans  les 
premiers  temps  de  la  Renaissance  du  gothique.  11  est 
difficile  de  rendre,  en  quelques  mots,  pleine  justice  a 
l'influence  de  Britton  sur  le  developpement  de  la  gravure 
au  xixe  siecle,  mais  il  est  indispensable  de  mentionner 
ici  1'une  de  ses  nombreuses  publications,  Antiquites 
arcbiteclurales  de  la  Grande-Breta gne  ;  cet  ouvrage  sous 
sa  forme  lente  de  publication  periodique  montre  dans  la 
valeur  des  planches  un  progres  graduel  qui  explique  l'origine 
de  I'ecole  de  Turner.  Les  illustrations  du  premier  volume, 
termine  en  1807,  ont  pour  la  plupart,  les  solides  meriies 
de  I'ancienne  maniere,  et  valent  les  almanachs  d'Oxford 
graves  -par  Basire. 

A  la  fin  du  volume  on  voit  deux  gravures,  premieres 
ceuvres  de  deux  jeunes  artiste',  Frederik  Mackensie, 
jeune  dessinateur  et  John  Le  Keux,  graveur  qui,  travail- 
lant  en  collaboration,  arriverent  au  dessin  ferme,  a  la 
texture  brillante  et  aux  details  precis  qui  furent  l'ambition 
de  Britton.  Ce  fut  l'avant-garde  d'une  ecole  de  graveurs  qui 
revolutionna  la  gravure  de  pavsage  et  introduisit  l'emploi  des 
planches  d'acier  de  la  periode  qui  suivit. Turner  enrola  de  nom- 
breuses recrues  dans  cette  ecole,  il  en  suivit  les  progres  avec 
interet  jusqu'au  jour  oil  la  question  se  posant  de  choisir  un 
graveur  pour  reproduire  sa  peinture  High  Street  Oxford, 
en  1809,  il  ecrivait  a  l'editeur  :  Le  Britton's  Antiquity  con- 
tient  de  bons  specimens  de  gravure  au  point  de  vue  de  la 
profondeur,  de  la  clarte  et  de  la  nettete  des  traits.  » 

II  savait  done  que  sa  peinture  de  Pope's  Villa  serait  bien 
rendue  quand  il  en  autorisait  la  publication  dans  un  ouvrage 
que  Britton  surveillait  particulierement.  Une  lettre  qu'il 
ecrit,  a  ce  sujet,  a  Britton  et  dans  laquelle  il  demande 


Turner  et  ses  Graveurs 


qu'on  prenne  le  parti  du  grand  paysage  contre  les  cartes 
geographiques,  est  remarquablement  clair  et  raisonnable. 
Mais  si  grand  que  fut  son  espoir,  il  fut  certainement  depasse 
par  la  planche  gravee  car,  dans  ses  commentaires  au  gra- 
veur,  il  disait  «  :  Vous pouvez  voir  les  lumiereset  si  j'avais 
pense  que  cela  fut  possible  je  l'aurais  fait  faire  deja.  »  Si, 
comme  le  remarque  M.  Roget,  la  mise  en  oeuvre  du  talent 
de  Mackensie  et  son  heureuse  union  avec  celui  de  graveurs 
comme  John  et  Henry  Le  Keux,  montraient  le  tact  et  le 
bon  gout  de  Britton,  combien  celui-ci  devait  etre  plus  fier 
encore  d'avoir  su  mettre  en  rapports  le  genie  de  Turner  et 
l'habilete  de  Pye  !  Faut-il  rappeler  ici  l'insignifiance  histo- 
rique  de  la  tradition  qui  veut  que  Pye  ait  execute  une  planche, 
avant  le  Pope's  Villa,  alors  qu'il  etait  l'emplove  de  James 
Heath  qui  le  signa.  Car  il  est  certain  que  les  negociations 
de  Britton  avaient  pour  but  de  valoir  a  P\'e  l'approbation 
et  l'appui  du  peintre  et  bientot  les  circonstances  devaient 
donner  a  cette  appreciation  une  forme  pratique. 

Pendant  que  la  planche  du  Pope's  Villa  s'executait,  Tur- 
ner reccvait  de  M.  Wyatt,  l'editeur  bien  connu  d'Oxford, 
.a  commande  de  deux  vues  d'Oxford,  Tune  representant 
High  street;  l'autre,  une  vue  de  la  ville  dans  le  lointain,  qui 
devaient  etre  reproduite  en  blanc  et  noir  a  une  forte  echelle. 
M.  Thornbury  a  public,  sans  ordre,  la  tres  interessante 
correspondance  qui  eut  lieu  a  ce  sujet.  Dans  une  des  pre- 
mieres lettres,  datee  du  23  novembre  1809,  Turner  indique 
cinq  graveurs  —  parmi  lesquels  Pye  ne  figure  pas  —  qu'il 
considere  comme  capables  de  graver  les  planches  que 
Wyatt  desire  et  il  ajoute  :  «  La  question  est  certainement 
de  premiere  importance  pour  moi,  mais  vous  deciderez  », 
et,  dans  un  post-scriptum,  il  se  refere  a  X Architectural 
Antiquity  de  Britton  dans  les  termes  que  nous  avons  cites. 
En  fin  de  compte,  on  choisit  Middiman  pour  graver  High 
street  et,  pendant  l'annee  1809,  on  petit  suivre,  dans  les 
lettres,  l'avancement  de  son  travail.  Cependant,  avant  que 
l'ouvrage  fut  tres  avance,  vers  1810,  comme  l'mdique  la 
date  inscrite  sur  l'epreuve  terminee  du  British  Museum,  le 
graveur  de  Pope's  Villa  avait  merite  l'approbation  chaleu- 
reuse  de  Turner  qui  avait  decide,  a  ce  moment,  que  High 
street  ne  serait  pas  execute  par  un  autre.  On  prit  done  de 
nouveaux  arrangements,  dont  les  lettres  ne  nous  ont  pas  fait 
connaitre  les  termes,  et  la  premiere  vue  d'Oxford  parut  en 
1812, comme  etant  de  Middiman  et  de  Pye.  Ce  dernier  fut 
seul  charge  de  la  seconde  planche,  Oxford  vu  d' Abingdon 
Road,  qui  parut  six  ans  plus  tard. 

La  direction  donnee  a  Pve  sur  le  travail  de  cesgravures, 
n'impliquait  aucun  reproche  a  Middiman  qui  se  montra, 
dans  YHistoire  du  Richmondshire,  de  Whitaker,  un  collabo- 
rateur  de  Turner  aussi  important  que  Pve  lui-meme.  II  est 
possible  que  Middiman  n'ait  fait  quelagravure  preliminaire 
de  High  street,  quoique  les  allusions  contenues  dans  les 
lettres  n'autorisent  pas  cette  conclusion. 

Des  vingt  planches  de  VHistoire  du  Richmondshire, 
la  premiere,  Hardraia  Fall,  futpubliee  le  ier  octobre  1818; 


la  demiere,  Wycliffe,  le  i«r  mars  1823.  Hey  sham  est  le 
seul  des  dessins  portant  une  date  (181 8  que  nous  ayons 
vu).  Mais,  ainsi  que  le  prouvent  les  documents  publies  par 
sir  Walter  Armstrong,  dans  son  livre  sur  Turner  et  les 
lettres  imprimees  par  M.  Cosmao  Monkhouse,  Turner 
commenca  ses  excursions,  en  quete  de  sujets,  des  181 5  et 
1816.  Les  dix-huit  dessins,  pour  illustrer  le  Tour  d'ltalie, 
ne  sont  probablement  pas  dates ;  on  sait,  cependant,  que  la 
premiere  planche,  Pout  et  chateau  Saint-Ange,  parut  le 
1"  octobre  181 8  et  la  derniere,  Forum  Romanum,  le 
ier  aout  1820.  Pye,  Middiman,  Rawle,  J.  Landseer  et  autres 
graveurs  qui,  presque  tous,  avaient  travaille  sous  Fail 
vigilant  de  Britton,  contribuerent  au  succes  du  Tour 
«  d'Hakewill  »,  comme  ils  avaient  partage  le  triomphe 
del' Histoire  du  Richmondshire  avec  d'autres  qui  devaient 
ajouter  a  leur  renommee  en  transcrivant  les  dernieres 
ceuvres  du  peintre. 

II  faut  insister  sur  le  moment  exact  oil  Turner  fit  son 
premier  vovage  en  Italie  (il  avait  visite  le  Piemont,  lors  de 
son  voyage  sur  le  continent),  car,  de  memeque  la  vie  d'un 
horn  me  se  trouve  modifiee  par  un  simple  incident,  la  direc- 
tion du  genie  de  Turner  fut  changee  par  ce  voyage.  On  a 
repandu  des  flots  de  paroles  inutiles  sur  les  periodes 
et  les  stvles  des  peintures  de  Turner  et  de  leurs 
motifs,  mais  on  s'est  peu  occupe  d'etablir  l'exacte  chrono- 
logie  de  sa  vie  et  de  ses  tableaux.  Les  ecrivains  les  plus 
entendus  ont  semble  dire  que  les  sujets  d'Hakewill  ont 
ete  d'abord  dessines  d'apres  nature  par  Turner,  alors  qu'il 
est  certain  que  les  sept  dernieres  planches  publiees  ont 
seules  ete  retouchees  d'apres  la  connaissance  personnelle 
des  scenes  qu'elles  representaient,  et  feu  M.  Monkhouse, 
dans  sa  Vie  de  Turner,  parle  de  l'infiuence  de  l'ltalie  sur 
les  dessins  du  Richmondshire. 

Ce  que  Turner  ne  nous  apprend  pas  lui-meme,  nous 
pouvons  le  connaitre  par  les  autres.  C'est  ainsi  que,  a  l'e- 
poque  de  la  visite  de  Turner  a  Rome,  sir  Thomas  Lawrence 
s'y  trouvait  egalement,  avec  la  mission  du  prince  Regent,  de 
faire  le  portrait  du  pape  Pie  VII.  Pendant  l'ete  de  1819, 
ses  lettres  sont  remplies  de  reeommandations  adressees  a 
des  amis  communs  pour  qu'ils  insistent  aupres  de  Turner 
sur  l'importance  de  sa  visite  a  Rome  pendant  que  «  son 
genie  »,  comme  le  dit  Lawrence  qui  cite  Horace  Walpole 
(27  juin  1 819),  «  est  dans  sa  fleur  ».  «  C'est  un  crime  contre 
sa  renommee  et  son  pays,  s'ecrie-t-il,  de  laisser  passer 
la  plus  belle  periode  de  son  talent...  sans  visiter  ces  ta- 
bleaux... J'y  pense  constamment.  »  Les  lettres  du  President 
sont  toujours  pleines  de  relations  de  ses  propres  triomphes 
artistiques  ou  du  repos  qu'il  s'accorde,  a  l'occasion,  pour  se 
meler  au  grand  monde.  La  verite  est  que,  apres  avoir 
engage  Turner  a  venir  a  Rome,  il  negligea  completement 
de  signaler  sa  presence  par  la  suite.  Le  peintre  de  paysages 
se  serait  surement  trouve  mal  a  l'aise  dans  la  society  des 
iMettemich,  et  Lawrence  jugea  peut-etre  qu'il  valait  mieux 
l'en  tenir  ecarte,  meme  sur  le  papier.  Heureusement  il  a 

17 


Turner  et  ses  Graveurs 


note  dans  une  autre  lettre  l'epoque  du  depart  de  Turner 
qui,  lui-meme,  a  laisse  dans  un  dessin,  a  Farnley  Hall,  la 
date  precise  de  son  passage  du  Mont-Cenis  lors  de  son  voyage 
de  retour. 

Les  resultats  du  pelerinage  de  Turner  qui  apparaissent  avec 
Rome  vue  du  Vatican  et  le  golfe  de  Ba'ie  furent  visibles  pen- 
dant peu  de  temps  dans  les  salles  de  l'Academie,  leurs 
effets  sur  les  dessins  destines  aux  graveurs  furent  moins 
evidents  mais  non  moins  forts ;  ils  meritent  d'etre  ici  discu- 
tes. 

Mais  il  faut  que  nous  revenions  en  arriere,  a  l'annee 
1807,  qui  d'apres  l'opinion  acceptee,  vit  le  commencement 
du  Liber  stitdiorum.  Nous  suivrons  le  cours  de  cette  ceuvre 
jusqu'au  moment  du  voyage  en  Italic-  et  nous  decrirons 
I'oeuvre  de  Turner  dans  sa  collaboration  avec  les  Cooke, 
puisque  cette  collaboration  qui  date  de  18 12,  dura  jusqu'a 
son  retour  de  Rome  et  que  c'est  a  cette  grande  phase  de 
sa  carriere  qu'est  due  la  transformation  de  son  style. 

«  Liber  Studiorum,  choix  de  compositions  illustrees 
«  de  paysages,  histoire,  montagnes,  pastorales,  marine  et 
«  architecture,  par  J.-M.-W.  Turner,  R.  A.  »  Ce  titre 
donne  par  l'artiste  a  son  ceuvre  indique  l'etendue  de  l'ou- 
vrage  et  marque  sa  rivalite  avec  Claude  qui  lui  fournit, 
dit-on,  l'idee.  L'histoire  de  cet  ouvrage  et  de  chacune 
des  planches  de  la  serie,  depuis  la  premiere  esquisse 
fixee  sur  papier,  jusqu'au  moment  oil  il  abandonna  la 
gravure  sur  cuivre,  a  ete  faite  par  M.  Rawlinson  et 
M.  Roget  avec  un  soin  scientifique  unique,  dans  les  anna- 
les  de  l'art  anglais.  Depuis  le  temps  de  l'auteur  de  «  Modern 
Painters  »  jusqu'a  ce  jour,  des  nuees  de  critiques  ont  fait 
leur  pature  de  ce  livre;  on  a  fait  donner  aux  epreuves  tout 
le  sens  qu'elles  etaient  censees  avoir.  Done  aujourd'hui  le 
Liber  studiorum  est  une  mine  epuisee  et  Ton  en  est  re- 
duit  a  repeter  la  forte  metaphore  de  sir  Walter  Amstrong  : 
«  Le  Liber  est  a  sec  de  toute  signification  esoterique.  » 

On  a  repete  qu'une  des  principales  raisons  qui  pousse- 
rent  le  peintre  a  publier  le  Liber  studiorum  fut  l'impossi- 
bilitii  de  vendre  les  tableaux  qu'il  exposait.  Sa  situation 
financiere,  a  cette  epoque,  temoignait  a  peine,  ilest  vrai,  de 
la  prosperite  qu'elle  devait  atteindre  plus  tard.  Mais  cepen- 
dant  des  commandes  importantes  devaient  avoir  deja  pose 
les  bases  de  cette  fortune  de  trois  millions  et  demi  qu'il 
gagna  avec  ce  public  qui  le  rejetait  et  le  meprisait.  Ses 
traites  avec  les  graveurs  et  les  editeurs  qui  contribuerent 
taut,  par  la  suite,  a  cette  fortune,  n'avaient  pas  encore  une 
grande  importance.  Mais  il  est  improbable  que  Turner  fut 
a  la  recherche  d'un  editeur  pour  publier  en  livraisons  — 
selon  la  mode  de  l'epoque  —  sa  premiere  grande  serie  de 
gravures  :  en  se  decidant  a  la  publier  lui-meme  il  ne  fai- 
sait  rien  d'extraordinaire.  Et  s'il  eut  adopte  la  facon  ordi- 
naire de  proceder  de  son  temps,  facon  bien  moins  dure  que 
celle  d'aujourd'hui,  il  n'y  a  pas  de  raison  pour  qu'il  eut 
echoue  —  comme  il  le  fit  —  dans  sa  tentative  d'attirer 
Fattention  d'un  public  tout  prepare,  par  ce  qu'il  connaissait 


deja  de  lui,  a  lui  faire  bon  accueil.  Si,  comme  il  l'a  note 
en  marge  d'une  des  epreuves,  «  tout  conspirait  contre  son 
ceuvre  »  il  faut  bien  reconnaitre  qu'il  etait  le  premier 
conspirateur.  On  n'a  pas  pu  retrouver  le  texte  des  con- 
ditions de  l'ouvrage  qu'on  sait  anterieur  a  1808,  mais  on 
en  a  le  resume  dans  une  obscure  revue  critique  de  cette 
annee.  II  n'a  pas  ete  non  plus  possible  de  retrouver  des 
prospectus  de  la  publication  anterieurs  a  1816,  alors  que 
sept  ou  huit  ans  apres  le  icr  et  le2c  numero,  les  fascicules 
11  et  12  etaient  mis  a  la  disposition  des  souscripteurs.  On 
sait  settlement,  qu'en  dehors  de  ces  prospectus  dont  nous 
parlons,  Turner  avait  voulu  annoncer  son  ceuvre  bien 
avant.  La  note  adressee  a  Charles  Turner,  le  graveur 
dont  le  nom  figure  sur  les  planches  des  fascicules  2,  3  et4, 
prouve  seulement  que  l'idee  du  peintre  ne  fut  pas  mise  a 
l'execution.  Cette  note  est  ecrite  sur  l'epreuve  d'une  plan- 
che  du  IIIe  fascicule  (juin  1808)  et  contient  une  allusion  a 
la  fermeture  imminente  de  la  galerie  Turner,  ce  qui  date- 
rait  cet  ecrit  de  la  fin  de  l'ete  1807.  Sous  la  forme  de  re- 
proches  au  graveur  et  a  l'editeur,  il  nous  revele  en  quelle 
disorganisation  se  trouvait  l'entreprise  :  «  Quant  a  la  pu- 
blicity, v  est-il  dit,  vous  savez  bien  que  tout  aurait  du  etre 
fait  depuis  longtemps !  »  Et  apres  s'etre  plaint  de  n'avoir 
pas  lu  «  un  seul  mot  dans  les  journaux  »,  le  peintre  insiste 
pour  qu'on  retire  du  Times  l'annonce  qu'on  y  a  deposee  et 
qu'on  la  donne  a  un  autre  journal  qui  pourra,  en  peu  de 
temps,  trouver  une  place  pour  l'inserer. 

Ce  manque  de  publicite  ne  fut  probablement  qu'une  des 
causes  de  l'insucces.  Pendant  ce  long  espace  de  douze  ans 
que  necessita  la  publication,  a  intervalles  irreguliers,  de 
quatorze  fascicules  seulement,  la  patience  des  acheteurs  se 
lassa.  Ajoutons  que  la  conduite  de  l'auteur,  lui-meme,  fut 
la  principale  raison  du  desastre.  Les  souscripteurs  etaient 
divises  en  deux  categories  :  la  premiere  payant  tout  d'abord 
2/5  de  plus  que  la  souscription,  et  la  seconde  deux  fois 
plus  que  la  premiere  pour  obtenir  des  epreuves  avant  la 
lettre.  Or,  rien  n'est  plus  douteux  que  l'impartialite  avec 
laquelle  Turner  distribua  les  epreuves  entre  les  souscrip- 
teurs. Et  ce  n'est  pas  tout.  A  une  epoque  ulterieure,  deux 
des  graveurs  et  l'imprimeur  du  Liber  studiorum  signerent 
la  declaration  que  les  planches  ne  pouvaient  donner  que 
vingt-cinq  ou  trente  epreuves  de  belle  qualite.  Or,  malgre 
cela,  cinq  mille  epreuves  provenant,  a  quelques  exceptions 
pres,  des  soixante-et-onze  planches  publiees,  furent  trouvees 
au  domicile  de  Turner,  apres  sa  mort,  et  deux  mille  d'entre 
elles  furent  reconnues  comme  tres  bonnes.  II  est  done  evi- 
dent qu'un  certain  nombre  des  plus  belles  epreuves  de  cha- 
que  planche  qui  approchaient  fort  de  la  valeur  de  celles 
que,  d'apres  la  declaration,  cette  planche  pouvait  donner, 
fut  garde  par  l'artiste  au  mepris  de  son  devoir,  sinon  de 
ses  engagements,  envers  les  souscripteurs.  Le  public  payant 
ainsi  traite  par  Turner  etait  sans  doute  peu  nombreux, 
mais  il  etait  connaisseur  et  instruit.  Le  gout  eclaire  qu'on 
avait  alors,  en  Angleterre,  ou  les  principes  classiques  de 


Turner  et  ses  Graveurs 


critiques  etaient  encore  en  honncur  et  etudies  avait  fait  de 
ce  pays  le  grand  marche  des  tresors  d'art  disperses  par  les 
troubles  politiques  du  Continent.  Et  les  amateurs  avaient 
assez  de  competence  pour  apprecier  une  mauvaise  epreuve 
ou  un  taux  tirage  et  pour  lc  blamer.  Si  ['appreciation  du 
Liber  studiorum  n'a  pu  etre  faite  que  par  la  posterite  cela 
tient  a  ce  que  Turner  n'a  permis  qu'a  elle  d'en  connaitre  la 
valeur. 

La  date  donnee  par  M.  Rawlinson  pour  la  publication 
du  ier  novembre,  date  universellement  admise,  est  celle 
du  20  janvier  1807,  mais  il  est  un  autre  point  indique 
par  la  meme  autoritequi  meriterait  d'etre  controle.  Turner, 
dit-on,  avait  tout  d'abord  songe  a  faire  graver  ses  planches 
en  aquatinte  ;  la  seule  planche,  Pont  et  chevres,  aquatinte 
qui  fut  executee  de  cette  fagon  par  Lewis  fut  done  une  ex- 
perience preliminaire  et  e'est  en  presence  de  l'insucces  que 
le  peintre  se  decida  a  adopter  le  procede  de  la  mezzotinte. 
Que  cette  assertion  soit  discutable  e'est  ce  que  montre 
M.  Rawlinson  lui-meme  dans  le  premier  appendice  a  son 
ouvrage.  II  y  publie  trois  lettres  adressees  par  Turner  a 
Lewis  au  sujet  de  la  planche  en  question.  La  derniere  seule 
est  datee  (14  decembre  1807),  mais  la  premiere  indique 
que  Turner  habitait  alors  le  West  End  Upper-Mall,  Ham- 
mersmith (d'ou  la  seconde  lettre  est  aussi  datee)  fait  que  le 
catalogue  de  l'exposition  de  l'academie  de  1807  n'a  pas  si- 
gnals. Ce  catalogue  ou  les  adresses  des  artistes  sont  soi- 
gneusement  indiquees  ne  mentionne  pas  le  domicile  de 
Turner  l'annee  suivante,  alors  qu'il  est  vraisemblable  qu'il 
s'installa  apres  l'exposition  de  1807  mais  avant  l'exposition 
de  1808.  On  ne  peut  pas  admettre  que  la  date  de  la  der- 
niere lettre  soit  erronee,  ni  donner  comme  argument  cette 
affirmation  de  Lewis,  quarante  ans  plus  tard,  que,  dans 
son  souvenir,  cette  planche  a  <ke  la  premiere  gravee. 
Cependant  si  l'histoire  de  la  planche  gravee  en  aqua- 
tinte comme  essai  doit  etre  acceptee,  il  faut  abandonner 
aussi  la  date  de  la  publication  de  la  premiere  partie  et  aussi 
il  faut  admettre  la  confection  de  dix  planches  en  mezzo- 
tinte par  un  seul  graveur  entre  le  14  decembre  1807  et  le 
28  fevrier  1808. 

D'autre  part,  si  Ton  repousse  la  date  generalement  ad- 
mise de  la  publication  de  la  premiere  partie  pour  s'en  tenir 
a  une  epoque  posterieure  au  14  decembre  1807  on  pourra 
suggerer  que  la  premiere  partie  parut  en  meme  temps  que 
la  seconde,  en  fevrier  1808.  Et  alors  le  projet  d'annonces 
dont  nous  avons  parle,  s'appliquerait  a  la  prochaine  publi- 
cation des  deux  premieres  parties  ensemble.  A  l'appui  de 
cette  opinion  on  remarquera  que  les  planches  du  ier  fasci- 
cule ne  sont  pas  datees  tout  en  constatant  que  les  planches 
du  2e  fascicule  le  sont,  et  qu'elles  different  des  premieres 
par  le  titre  de  «  Professeur  de  perspective  a  1' Academic 
roya^e  »  dont  on  a  fait  suivre  le  nom  du  peintre. 

En  tout  cas  il  est  impossible  de  soutenir  qu'une  planche 
terminee  dans  le  dernier  mois  de  1807  etait  un  essai  de 
methode  soit  pour  une  serie  d'epreuves  dont  cinq  avaient 


dejaparuonze  mois  auparavant,  soit  pour  une  seule  epreuve 
qui,  pour  n'avoir  pas  reussi,  parut  avec  dix  autres  gravures 
dans  un  procede  tout  different,  deux  mois  apres  son  execu- 
tion. Qu'on  ne  dise  que  cette  seule  gravure  en  aquatinte 
prouve  bien  que  e'etait  un  essai,  car  tout  en  indiquant  dans 
la  Revue  des  Publications  d'art  de  1808  que  le  procede 
employe  serait  la  mezzotinte,  Turner  se  croyait  pleinement 
le  droit  de  changer  le  style  des  gravures  pour  faire  monter 
le  prix  des  fascicules  quand  l'ouvrage  serait  en  cours. 

Quoiqu'il  en  soit  de  cette  question  pour  l'histoire  du 
Liber  studiorum,  il  est  curieux  de  constater  le  changement 
d'attitude  du  peintre  qui  passe  d'une  sorte  de  gout  pour 
l'aquatinte  a  un  semblant  de  mepris.  Sa  principale  objec- 
tion etait,  dans  le  cas  de  Lewis,  ce  qu'il  considerait  comme 
un  prix  de  revient  exhorbitant,  et  cependant,  dans  une  note 
qui  se  trouve  sur  une  epreuve  du  Dunstanborough  Castle 
l'une  des  deux  planches  dans  lesquelles  Charles  Turner 
emplova  ce  procede  pour  le  ciel,  il  parle  avec  indignation 
de  cette  fagon  de  proceder  comme  d'une  «  tolerance  ».  Ces 
deux  planches  le  Dunstanborough  Castle  et  le  Pont  a  moi- 
tie  distance  furent  publics  cn  juin  1808,  et  il  est  probable 
que  la  planche  du  Calme  fut  avancee  vers  la  meme  epoque 
ce  qui  prouve  que  Turner  cherchait  a  se  rendre  maitre 
d'un  procede  neglige.  Turner  avait  sans  doute  contre  l'a- 
quatinte des  griefs  d'ordre  artistique,  bien  qu'une  lettre  a 
John  Girtin  publiee  par  M.  Roget  oil  1'on  pretend  qu'ils 
sont  exprimes  a  mots  couverts  n'ait  rien  a  voir  avec  l'aqua- 
tinte et  le  Liber  studiorum.  Des  difficultes  techniques 
exagereespar  Lewis  etaient  venues  augmenter  le  manque  de 
confiance  de  Turner  dans  ce  procede.  II  v  a  aussi  une  autre 
raison  pour  son  dedain,  la  meme  qui  lui  fit  repousser  les 
planches  d'acier  a  leur  premiere  apparition.  C'est  son 
horreur  pour  cequi  etait  vulgaire  et  commun.  L'annee  1808 
debuta  par  une  publication  periodique  d'Uckermann,  le 
Microcosme  de  Londres  qui  fut  suivie  par  nombre  d'ou- 
vrages  semblables  tels  que  Histoire  de  V Abbaye  de  West- 
minster,  les  Uuiversites,  les  Ecoles  publiques  et  les 
Talais  Royaux.  Ces  publications  coincidant  avec  la  grande 
entreprise  de  Turner  inonderent  le  marche  d'estampes 
teintees  et  contribuerent  au  discredit  de  l'aquatinte.  Turner 
put  fort  bien  prevoir  cet  abandon  pendant  qu'on  gravait  le 
Dunstanborough  Castle,  et  le  succes  grandissant  de  la  mez- 
zotinte aux  mains  de  Turner  et  ses  aides  empecha  l'aqua- 
tinte meme  tres  bien  faite  d'entrer  en  competition  comme 
procede  meme  alternatif  pour  les  planches  du  Liber  stu- 
diorum. 

Une  circonstance  donne  a  la  collection  des  planches  en 
mezzotinte  qui  se  rapportent  au  Liber  studiorum  un  grand 
interet  et  une  grande  valeur.  C'est  que,  parmi  ces  es- 
tampes,  —  e'est-a-dire  71  planches  publiees  et  20  sujets 
non  publies  qui  devaient  faire  partie  de  l'ouvrage,  plus  une 
douzaine  de  planches  dites  «  suite  »  et  qui  font  plus  hy- 
pothetiquement  partie  de  la  serie,  —  sont  les  seules 
gravures  que  Turner  executa  lui-meme.  II  apportait  une 

19 


Turner  et  ses  Gravcurs 


tres  grande  surveillance  a  toutcs  les  gravurcs  de  ses 
dessiris.  Mais  s'il  ne  toucha  jamais  un  burin  meme  pour 
retoucher  une  planche  ;  il  connaissait  —  grace  a  la  colla- 
boration de  sa  jeunesse  avee  Raphael  Smith  —  toutes  les 
ressources  de  la  mezzotinte  s'il  n'en  possedait  pas  toutes  les 
subtilites  techniques,  et  son  habilete  dtait  vraiment  eton- 
nante  quand  on  songe  qu'il  n'en  avait  qu'une  pratique  bien 
courte. 

D'ailleurs  l'habilete  professionnelle  des  graveurs  n'est 
pas  moins  etonnante,  ils  avaient  sans  doute  une  grande 
experience  du  procede  dans  la  gravure  du  portrait,  mais  ils 
l'appliquaient  pour  la  premiere  Ibis  au  paysagc  sous  la  di- 
rection de  Turner.  Ils  eurent  malheureusement,  apres  le 
Liber  studiorum,  pen  d'occasions  d'exercer  le  talent  qu'ils 
avaient  acquis  en  y  travaillant.  Puis  la  tournure  que  prit 
l'art  du  paysage  et  le  genre  de  Turner  lui-meme  apres 
1'annee  1820  mit  le  procede  en  mauvaise  situation  au  point 
de  vue  artistique.  Aussi  quand  parurent  les  planches  d'acier 
qui  obviaient  aux  del'auts  de  la  mezzotinte  au  point  de  vue 
commercial,  cclle-ci  ne  put  pas  rentrer  en  laveur  aupres 
des  editeurs  de  gravures  de  pavsages. 

On  doit  penser  que  la  lenteur  et  la  suppression  de  la 
publication  du  Liber  studiorum  tient  seulement  des  ten- 
dances de  Turner,  avec  ce  que  la  mezzotinte  pouvait  donner. 
L'affaire  fut-elle  mauvaise  des  le  debut,  rien  n'est  moins 
certain  :  au  fur  et  a  mesure  de  la  publication,  les  pertes,  mal- 
gre  les  excentricites  de  Turner,  devinrent  moins  conside- 
rables. Cette  publication  hit  connue  peu  a  pen  d'un  ecrele 
d'admirateurs  limitc,  sans  doute,  et  le  prix  paye  pour  la 
confection  de  la  dcrniere  gravure  hit  bien  moins  clcve  que 
celui  des  premiers  numeros.  Le  voyage  de  Turner  en  Italic  ne 
pouvait  pas  etre  une  cause  de  cessation,  car  il  ne  dura  que 
six  mois,  et  certains  fascicules  anterieurs  avaient  paru  a 
des  intervalles  de  trois  et  quatre  ans  l'un  de  jl'autre,  et 
d'autre  part,  on  sent,  dans  tons  les  tableaux  et  esquisses 
qu'il  toucha  depuis  son  retour  d'ltalie,  le  gout  soudain  de 
Fartiste  pour  les  qualhes  uniques  de  la  mezzotinte,  le  bril- 
lant  du  ton,  la  complexity  des  details  qui  avaient  si  long- 
temps  pris  forme  dans  son  esprit. 

On  aura  1'explication  de  la  cessation  du  Liber  studio- 
rum, alors  qu'il  etait  deja  aux  trois  quarts  acheve,  en  re- 
gardant les  planches  des  Rivieres  d'Angleterre,  pre- 
miere serie  importante  entreprise  par  Turner  apres  son 
retour  d'ltalie.  Ces  estampes,  d'un  caractere  tout  a  fait 
experimental,  temoignent,  en  bien  des  points,  des  efforts 
du  peintre  pour  faire  produire  a  la  mezzotinte  des  eft'ets 
qui  sont  ctrangers  a  son  caractere  naturel. 

Sir  Walter  Armstrong,  dans  son  recent  livre  sur  Turner, 
tout  en  reconnaissant  que  le  style  du  peintre  a  subi  un 
grand  changement  a  partir  de  cette  epoque,  en  fait  re- 
monter  les  prodromes  a  l'epoque  oil  le  peintre  recut  ses 
premieres  commandes  de  Vues  de  la  Cote  Slid,  qui  fu- 
rerit  1'origine  de  ses  relations  avec  W.-B.  et  G.  Cooke. 
Les  raisons  qu'il  en  donne  sont  remarquables,  car,  apres 
20 


avoir  note  ce  changement,  il  ajoute  que  l'artiste  «  modifia 
sa  methode  pour  obeir  aux  exigences  du  burin  ».  La  di- 
rection du  Liber  studiorum  lui  avait  fait  connaitre  les  res- 
sources  de  la  mezzotinte,  et  il  en  conclut  que  la  ligne 
etant  la  contrepartie  du  ton,  ne  pouvait  exprimer  que 
des  effets  contraires  et  «  jamais  transcrire  des  tons 
simples  et  larges  sur  le  cuivre  ».  Sir  Walter  signale 
ici  la  quantite  de  details  dont  les  dessins  destines  aux  gra- 
veurs sont  remplis,  et  il  reconnait  ce  que  tout  le  monde 
admettra,  que  l'effet  au  point  de  vue  artistique  n'en  fut 
pas  toujours  tres  heureux,  mais  quand  il  dit  que  ces  de- 
tails n'avaient  pas  d'autres  objets  apparents  que  de  fournir 
quelque  chose  au  burin,  et  qu'en  refusant  d'envoyer  ces 
dessins  aux  expositions,  le  peintre  les  considerait  bien 
comme  des  notes,  il  semblera  a  beaucoup  que  cette  ma- 
niere  de  raisonner  ressemble  fort  a  celle  qui  consisterait  a 
pretendre  que  la  deseente  des  poids  d'une  horloge  et  le 
deroulement  du  grand  ressort  sont  produits  par  la  marche 
des  aiguilles. 

L'opinion  de  sir  Walter  Armstrong  fait  si  universelle- 
ment  autorite,  qu'il  faut  apporter  de  serieuses  raisons 
quand  on  discute  avec  lui.  On  en  trouvera,  pensons-nous, 
dans  certains  points  de  l'histoire  des  relations  de  Turner 
avec  les  Cooke.  C'est  un  des  points  de  la  carriere  de  l'ar- 
tiste qui  a  ete  le  moins  bien  apprecie.  Turner  a  laisse 
nombre  de  souvenirs  ecrits  de  cet  episode  ;  quelques-uns 
out  un  interet  que  peu  d'ecrits  du  peintre  possedent,  mais 
on  le  connaft  surtout  par  les  evenements  regrettables  qui 
Pont  termine. 

Cette  crise  causee  par  une  lettre  de  Cooke,  sans  doute  a 
la  suite  d'une  provocation  a  ete,  avec  des  commentaires 
tout  a  fait  injustifies,  transformee  en  mythe  par  M.  Thorn- 
burv,  elle  prit  une  place  importante  dans  l'histoire  du  mar- 
tyre  de  Turner.  Mais  il  n'est  pas  douteux,  meme  en 
adoptant  cette  version,  que  le  traite  fut  tres  lucratif  pour 
l'artiste.  II  resulte  des  comptes  publics  par  M.  Thornbury, 
que  le  peintre  recut  de  fortes  sommes  d'argent  pour  des 
dessins  comme  ceux  des  Cotes  du  Sud,  achetes  par  les 
Cooke,  pour  le  droit  de  reproduction  et  pour  la  location 
des  dessins,  destines  a  la  gravure,  d'apres  les  conventions 
adoptees  pour  les  Rivieres  d'Angleterre.  II  recut  encore 
de  nombreux  petits  paicments  pour  retoucher  certaines 
cpreuves  de  planches  en  cours  d'execution,  d'apres  des 
dessins  d'autres  artistes.  En  outre,  grace  aux  exposi- 
tions qui  se  faisaient  dans  les  galeries  Cooke,  il  put  dis- 
poser d'un  grand  nombre  de  planches  de  V  Hist  aire  de 
Richmondshire  et  du  Voyage  pittorcsque  en  Italie,  faits 
et  payes  depuis  plusieurs  annees.  Les  freres  Cooke  avaient 
de  plus  rhabhude  de  payer  fort  cher  de  grandes  aquarelles 
de  Turner  pour  rehausser  leurs  expositions,  qu'ils  tinrent 
certainement  en  1822,  1823  et  1824,  et  peut-etre  apres.  II 
n'est  pas  impossible  que  Turner  persista  a  employer  la 
couleur  dans  ses  dessins  pour  les  graveurs,  ce  qui  devait 
les  embarrasser  fort,  mais  ce  qui  donnait  par  la  suite  plus 


Turner  et  ses  Graveurs 


d'importance  a  ces  ceuvres.  C'etait  l'usage  general  dans  sa 
jeunesse  de  donner  aux  graveurs  des  dessins  en  couleur. 
Plus  tard,  on  prit  l'habitude  de  faiie  des  dessins  a  la 
sepia  pour  les  graveurs,  afin  de  simplifier  leur  tache,  au 
risque  de  reduire  encore  les  profits  du  dessinateur.  Le  fait 
que  sur  cent  dessins  prepares  pour  les  graveurs  par  Tur- 
ner avant  la  periode  de  ces  expositions  chez  les  Cooke,  on 
n'en  trouva  que  vingt  chez  lui  apres  sa  mort,  prouve  que 
ce  travail,  en  apparence  inutile,  ne  fut  pas  sans  compen- 
sation materielle  pour  Turner. 

Sir  Walter  Armstrong  ne  paraitpas  admettre  que  la  salle 
d'exposition  des  freres  Cooke  puisse  etre  comparee  a  une 
exposition  publique,  mais  il  ne  pourraitpas  refuser  ce  nom 
aux  galeries  de  la  Societe  des  Artistes  de  Birmingham  et  a 
celles  de  l'Academie  de  Newcastle,  pour  ne  citer  que  ces 
deux  expositions  provinciates  oil  le  peintre  exposa  des  dessins 
comme  ceux  dont  il  est,  ici,  question.  L'execution  tech- 
nique des  Cotes  du  5«iafrappe  l'eminent  critique  lorsqu'il 
s'est  occupe  des  dessins  originaux.  11  faut  reconnaitre  que 
les  deux  freres  qui  executerent  les  trois  quarts  desgravures 
n'etaient  pas  des  artistes  capables  d'exprimer  dans  la  traduc- 
tion de  ses  ceuvres,  les  visees  du  peintre.  On  a  la  preuve 
de  leur  insufrisance  dans  ce  fait  que  l'un  des  derniers  bio- 
graphes  de  Turner  a  signale,  comme  particulierement  re- 
marquables  dans  les  dessins  des  «  Cotes  »,  deux  sujets  qui 
se  sont  trouve  etre  de  Wint. 

Une  des  raisons  pour  lesquelles  l'habilete  des  Cooke  eut  a 
se  depenser  en  fioritures  calligraphiques,  tient  a  ce  que  les 
planches  durent  etre  gravees  a  la  meme  echelle  que  les 
dessins.  On  ne  saurait  dire  si  Turner  avait  des  idees  arre- 
tees  sur  les  proportions  a  leur  donner;  mais,  en  certaines 
occasions,  les  editeurs  eurent  a  en  decider.  Les  dessins, 
pour  «  l'ltalie  »,  d'Hakewill;  les  «  Ports  »  et  «  les  Rivieres 
d'Angleterre  »,  comme  beaucoup  d'autres  vignettes  etfron- 
tispices,  sont  de  la  meme  dimension  que  les  gravures.  Ceux 
de  YHistoire  des  Richmondshire  et  d'Angleterre  et  Pays 
de  Gal  les  furent  reduits,  les  premiers,  d'un  tiers ;  les  seconds, 
de  pres  de  moitie.  Cette  reduction  est  interessante,  car  on 
dit  que  Turner  surveilla  tout  particulierement  a  la  gravure 
de  cette  serie.  Les  dessins  sont  surcharges  de  details  tels, 
que  la  gravure  la  plus  sommaire  pourrait  seule  les  rendre 
intelligibles,  meme  a  la  meme  echelle.  Avec  une  reduction 
de  moitie  la  virtuosite  du  graveur  etait  completement  im- 
possible. Ruskin  voulant  expliquer  les  qualitts  des  dessins 
aux  lecteurs  de  Peintres  modernes,  dut  faire  graver  un 
morceau  de  ses  dessins  a  la  meme  echelle. 

Remarquons  que  l'habitude  d'accumuler  des  details  dans 
ses  peintures  meme  quand  elles  n'etaient  pas  destines  a  la 
gravure  —  augmenta  chez  Turner  avec  l'age.  II  avait  reussi 
a  faire  rendre,  a  ses  graveurs,  les  tons  des  lointains,  les 
formes  de  nuage  avec  une  grande  fidtlite,  mais  il  ne  fut 
pas  capable  de  leur  faire  rendre  les  conventions  de  ses  premiers 
plans.  Et  c'est  sans  doute  pour  cela  qu'il  rtpondit  aux  de- 
mandes  de  vignettes  pour  lesquelles  la  diffkulte  n'existait  pas. 


On  peut  suivre  le  progres  de  cette  manie  du  detail  dans 
la  longue  serie  d'epreuves  retouchees  qui  se  trouvent  au 
British  Museum.  La  premiere,  Browsbolme  (de  YHistoire 
de  Wballey,  1800)  et  Oriel  College  (de  Y  Almanacb 
d'Oxford,  1801),  sont  retouchees  largement  avec  de  la 
craie  blanche,  seulement  :  a  ce  moment,  Turner  cherchait 
surtout,  semble-t-il,  a  relever  de  cette  facon  les  tons  de  lu- 
miere  des  planches  de  ses  graveurs,  habitues  aux  traditions 
sombres  de  Woollek.  II  exprima,  comme  nous  l'avons  dit, 
son  plaisir  et  sa  surprise  quand  il  rencontra  un  graveur 
comme  John  Pye  qui  sut  «  voir  les  lumieres  ».  Mais  Pye 
etait  une  exception  et  une  epreuve  du  Gledow  (gravee  en 
1 81  $ ,  par  George  Cooke,  pour  Whitaker  (nov.  1820) 
n'est  pas  la  demiere  qui  montre  les  efforts  faits  par 
le  peintre  pour  arriver  a  reproduire  les  lumieres.  Le 
papier  est  profondement  gratte  avec  un  canif,  couvert 
de  hachures  a  la  craie  blanche  et  une  note  marginale  engage 
le  graveur  «  a  rendre  les  lumieres  tres  brillantes  »  la  craie 
etant  destinee  a  indiquer  les  tons  generaux.  Dans  une  petite 
esquisse  marginale  du  faite  d'un  toit  on  sent  tout  le  desir 
d'une  verite  minutieuse;  une  autre  planche,  par  sir  George 
Cooke  (frontispice  des  Antiquites  de  Pola,  1018),  montre, 
par  deux  epreuves  successives,  les  modifications  qui  se  sont 
fakes.  La  premiere  porte  des  ajoutes  d'architecture,  au 
crayon;  la  seconde,  avec  des  coups  de  craie  blanche  a  trait 
a  la  perspective  aerienne. 

La  longue  serie  d'epreuves  de  la  Cote  du  Sud  forme  la 
plus  interessante  partie  de  cette  collection.  II  est  curieux  de 
noter  dans  la  premiere  d'entre  elles,  Lulwortb  Cove  (mars 
1 814),  que  la  craie  blanche  est  substitute  au  crayon  noir. 
L'artiste  a  probablement  compris  qu'en  ajoutant  plus  de 
details  il  ferait  de  l'art  du  paysage  un  diagramme  geolo- 
gique.  IVeymoutb,  publie  a  la  meme  epoque  est,  cepen- 
dant,  couvert  d 'indications  au  crayon  noir  destinees  a  don- 
ner plus  clairement  la  forme  des  bateaux;  il  en  est  de 
meme  dans  Lyme  Regis  (nov.  1814)  pour  donner  plus  de 
valeur  a  la  stratification  des  rochers.  Le  but  de  l'artiste,  dit 
une  note  de  Turner,  etait  <c  de  contrebalancer  les  lignes  des 
montagnes ;  »  quant  aux  lumieres  que  je  voudrais,  il  vaut 
«  autant  les  reserver  jusqu'a  la  prochaine  epreuve  »  :  le  pro- 
cede  employe  pour  Pola  est  done  devenu  habituel.  La 
«  prochaine  epreuve  »  porte  en  marge  une  note  de  W.-B. 
Cooke  qui  donne,  sur  la  facon  de  retoucher  de  Turner,  des 
indications  assez  ptecieuses  pour  etre  reproduites  ici  : 

«  En  recevant  cette  epreuve,  ecrit  le  graveur,  Turner  se 
«  declara  tres  satisfait ;  il  prit  un  morceau  de  craie  blanche 
«  et  un  morceau  de  craie  noire  et  me  demanda  qu'elle  etait 
«  celle  que  je  preferais  pour  la  retouche.  Je  choisis  la  blan- 
«  che  ;  il  repoussa  alors  le  morceau  de  craie  noire.  Quand  il 
«  eut  fini  je  lui  demandais  s'il  consentirait  a  retoucher  une 
«  autre  epreuve  en  noir.  —  Non,  me  dit-il,  vous  avez  fait 
«  votre  choix,  il  faut  vous  en  contenter  ».  Comme  cette 
«  comparaison  eut  inttresse  les  admirateurs  du  genie  de 
«  ce  grand  et  extraordinaire  artiste  !  » 

21 


Turner  et  ses  Graveurs 


On  sc  demande  ce  que  l'artiste  aurait  fait  avec  la  craie 
noire  apres  avoir  defigure  avec  du  blanc  l'epreuve  dont  il 
etait  si  satisfait. 

Sans  cette  explication  de  Cooke,  la  posterite  aurait  conclu 
que  cette  epreuve  exprimait  beaucoup  moins  la  pensee 
de  Turner  que  telle  epreuve  precedente  ou  que  telle  epreuve 
posterieure,  celle  de  Torbay  par  exemple,  oil  les  mots 
Trop  noir  »  sont  ecrits  sur  le  ciel.  Plus  tard,  Portsmouth 
(fevrier  1825)  une  des  premieres  planches  de  son  graveur 
favori  William  Miller  est  indiquee  comme  rrianquant  de 
nettete  dans  le  contour  des  vaisseaux. 

Mais  ce  qui  indique  bien  1'insistance  que  le  peintre  mettait 
a  des  vetilles  de  realisme  c'est  l'epreuve  de  Plymouth  Dock 
(octobre  18 1 6).  Le  premier  plan  de  gauche  merite  un  «  bravo  » 
Mais  un  petit  objct  qui  se  trouve  dans  la  main  d'un  des 
marins  en  goguette  que  Ton  voit  sur  la  droite,  lui 
parait  manquer  de  nettete.  On  lit,  en  marge,  cette  annotation : 
«  Le  violon  doit  etre  plus  visible  »,  avec  une  esquisse  ini- 
mitable de  cet  instrument.  Cette  insistance  pour  le  violon 
tout  a  fait  inutile  a  l'efTet  pittoresque,  prouvait  sans  doute 
la  gaite  de  l'artiste  a  ce  moment,  et  l'epreuve  soigneuse- 
ment  notee  par  Cooke  comme  «  Envoyee  par  poste  du  do- 
micile de  M.  Fawkes  en  Yorkshire  »  est  un  precieux  docu- 
ment pour  quiconque  etudie  le  caractere  de  Turner. 

L'epreuve  de  Vale  of  Ashburnbam  (Vues  du  Sussex 
1829)  a  un  aussi  grand  interet.  Les  tons  clairs  y  sont 
rehausses  a  la  craie  blanche  et  des  details  fort  insigni  Hants  en 
apparence  y  sont  longuement  indiques.  Ainsi,  a  moitie 
distance,  le  contenu  d'un  champ  est  note  «  tiges  de  houblon 
en  bouquet »,  il  y  est  dit  qu'une  maison  —  encore  plus 
eloignee  du  spectateur  —  a  trois  fenetres  de  chaque  cote 
de  l'entree,  et  enfin  1'horizon  lointain  doit  etre  agremente, 
dit  une  note  a  peine  visible  —  «  de  quelques  rochers  »  qui 
seraient  certainement  invisibles,  sur  le  terrain  meme.  On 
pourrait  trouver  bien  d'autres  exemples  pour  combattre 
l'opinion  du  distingue  critique  au  sujet  des  rapports  entre 
Turner  et  ses  graveurs  s'il  n'avait  lui-meme  dans  un  bril- 
lant  chapitre  de  son  ouvrage  indique  la  veritable  cause  du 
changement  qu'il  indiquait.  II  etait  du  au  milieu  intellectuel 
dans  lequel  vivait  Turner.  C'etait  toutd'abord  une  periodc  de 
revolution  dansle  monde  politique  et  industriel  et  ces  convul- 
sions ont  toujours  ete  accompagnees  dans  l'histoire  ancienne 
ou  moderne,  par  une  poussee  de  naturalisme  en  peinture  et  en 
sculpture.  Ajoutez-y  les  changements  dans  la  distribution  de 
la  richesse  et  par  consequent  dans  le  patronage  de  l'art  qui 
passe  a  une  classe  moins  apte  par  son  education  a  bien 
apprecier  les  qualites  de  stvle  et  d'imagination ;  c'est  pour 
cela  que  la  peinture  et  la  gravure  ont  ete  livrees  —  comme 
le  dit  sir  Walter  Armstrong  —  pieds  et  poings  lies  a  la 
tyrannie  de  l'ideal  bourgeois  ;  ces  conditions  de  transition 
dans  la  classe  moyenne  anglaise  ont  supprime  «  toute  recher- 
che d'une  grande  harmonie  de  dessin,  d'une  unite  de  concep- 
tion provenant  du  desir  d'adapter  les  formes  les  plus  libres 
de  l'art  aux  epoques  anterieures  »  :  On  a  remplace  cela  par 
22 


une  «  impertinente  curiosite  ».  II  iaut  dire  que  de  grands 
genies  ont  souffert  de  conditions  plus  brutales  que  celles 
que  Turner  rencontra  sur  sa  route. 

Le  fosse  franchi  par  la  theorie  et  la  pratique  des  beaux 
arts  pendant  la  vie  de  l'artiste  etait  sans  doute  profond.  II 
n'avait  pas  deux  ans  quand  Reynolds  prononca  son  immortel 
discours  sur  la  «  Realite  d'un  criterium  du  gout  »  et  il  vecut 
assez  pour  voir  la  publication  du  premier  volume  des 
«  Peintres  Modernes».  L'exposition  de  1' Academic  en  1790, 
la  premiere  a  laquelle  il  participa,  contenait  comme  princi- 
pale  attraction  une  sombre  peinture  romantique  de  Fuseli, 
et  au  Salon  de  1850,  le  dernier  oil  il  exposa,  on  pouvait 
voir  le  Christ  dans  la  maison  de  ses  parents,  de  Millais. 
L'ceuvre  de  Turner  etait  d'accord  avec  le  principe  de  cette 
grande  transition  et,  par  une  consequence  naturelle,  ses 
admirateurs  se  diviserent  en  deux  camps.  Pour  les  uns 
l'eloignement  du  peintre  des  regies  posees  par  le  septieme 
Discours  de  Reynolds  est  un  malheur  qu'il  faut  deplorer  et 
excuser  par  les  exigences  de  la  gravure.  Pour  les  autres,  la 
marche  vers  le  naturalisme  est  trop  lente  et  trop  incertaine. 

Une  limite  naturelle  se  marque  entre  eux  apres  l'aban- 
donnement  du  Liber  studiorum  et  la  premiere  visite  de 
l'artiste  a  Rome  en  1819-1820.  L'ceuvre  importante  qui  suivit 
son  retour  «  les  Rivieres  d'Angleterre  »  est,  on  l'a  deja  dit, 
fortement  marquee  des  signes  de  la  transition.  C'est  de  la 
que  les  gravures  prennent  leur  importance;  tout  en  tenant 
compte  des  titres  pompeux  a  la  mode  a  cette  epoque,  il  est 
certain  que  les  vingt  planches  publiees  ne  representent 
qu'une  partie  de  ce  qu'on  avait  l'intention  de  faire  au 
debut. 

Le  but,  dans  l'idee  de  Turner  tout  au  moins,  etait  de 
combiner  ce  qu'on  avait  obtenu  par  la  mezzotinte  dans  le 
Liber  studiorum  avec  le  luxe  de  details  que  seule  la  gra- 
vure au  trait  avait  pu  donner  dans  les  «  Cotes  du  Sud.  »  II 
est  possible  que  si  d'autres  considerations  n'etaient  pas 
intervenues  —  il  eut  reussidans  son  projet.  Mais  la  question 
de  resistance  des  planches,  importante  pour  Pcditeur,  amena 
un  compromis.  Des  six  graveurs  employes  quatre  avaient 
deja  fait  la  preuve  deleur  habilete  dans  le  Liber  studiorum. 
Quand  Charles  Turner  fut  charge  de  commencer  la  nouvelle 
sdrie  (ier  janvier  1823)  avec  une  replique  un  peu  modifiee 
d'un  des  sujets  les  plus  reussis  de  l'ancienne,  il  se  trouva 
en  presence  d'une  tache  au-dessus  de  ses  forces.  II  devait, 
dans  ce  nouveau  Norham  Castle,  surmonter  les  difricultes 
du  precede  nouveau  et  mal  connu  de  mezzotinte  sur  acier, 
et  il  devait  se  debrouiller  dans  la  masse  de  details  dont 
la  fantaisie  de  l'artiste  encombrait  les  premiers  plans. 
Nuages  de  brouillard,  figures,  bestiaux,  jusqu'a  un  coq  sur 
un  mur  introduit  pour  donner  l'impression  de  l'efTet  d'un 
matin,  tout  rendait  la  methode  inapplicable  et  tendait  a 
l'adoption  de  la  gravure  au  trait.  La  gravure  sur  acier  pouvait 
donner  des  resultats  pratiques  au  point  de  vue  de  l'impres- 
sion, mais,  comme  trois  planches  casserent  pendant  l'impres- 
sion le  resultat  ne  fut  pas  tout  a  fait  heureux ;  cependant 


Turner  et  ses  Graveurs 


en  regardant  les  planches  sur  cuivre  on  s'apercoit  que  le 
resultat  dut  etre  desastreux  pour  l'editeur.  Les  traits  du 
Kirkstall  Abbey  avaient  ete  delicatement  indiques  par  une 
gravure  sur  un  fond  doux  par  dessus  un  autre  fond  si  fin 
qu'il  faut  un  expert  pour  decider  s'il  s'agit  d'aquatinte  ou 
de  mezzotinte  puis  par  dessus  tres  netternent  de  la  mezzo- 
tinte,  le  tout  renforce  par  l'emploi  de  la  pointe  seche. 
Tout  le  charme  de  cetteplancheadisparu  avant  l'impression 
et  Ton  est  d'accord  avec  Cooke  dans  la  lettre  irritee  qui 
terniina  ses  relations  avec  Turner.  S'il  cut  consenti  a 
donner  a  1'auteur  les  vingt-cinq  epreuves  sur  Chine  qu'il 
demandait,  il  lui  eiit  fait  present  de  tout  ce  que  la  planche 
etait  capable  de  donner. 

Quelle  etrange  anomalie  de  caractere  cela  ne  revele-t-il 
pas  !  et  quelle  curieuse  et  inexplicable  habitude  que  celle 
d'amasser  toutes  ces  epreuves  de  choix  !  On  a  deja  parle 
desa  facon  de  proceder  pour  le  Liber  studiorum  oil  il  ne 
portait  prejudice  qu'a  ses  interets ;  quand  il  vit  qu'il  ne 
pouvait  pas  amener  Cooke  a  se  suicider,  il  prit  des 
arrangements  avec  un  autre  editeur  pour  la  publication  des 
«  Vues  pittoresques  d'Angleterre  et  du  pays  de  Galles  » 
(1827-1838).  Pour  ce  grand  ouvrage,  le  plus  important 
qu'executa  Turner  avec  la  gravure  au  trait,  dix-neuf  gra- 
veurs furent  employes.  Dans  ce  nombre,  six  avaient  deja 
travaille  sous  Turner  dans  les  «  Cotes  du  sud  »  Fun, 
W.-R.  Smirh,  avait  grave  deux  planches  pour  le  Rich- 
mondshire  et  avait  travaille  a  1'  «  Italie  »  d'Hakewille. 
La  publication  echoua  et  la  liquidation  entraina  la  vente 
des  planches  de  cuivre.  Elles  furent  achetees  par  le  peintre 
lui-meme,  pour  qu'elles  ne  pussent  pas  servir,  comme  il  le 
dit,  a  des  impressions  de  pacotilles.  Cette  sollicitude 
semble  bizarre,  quand  on  songe  au  mal  qu'il  se  donnait 
pour  frustrer  le  public  des  epreuves  les  meilleures.  Mais 
cela  devient  plus  etonnant  encore  lorsqu'on  songe  aux 
epreuves  elles-memes,  car  on  peut  dire  de  beaucoup  d'entre 
elles  qu'elles  n'avaient  pas  de  fraicheur,  de  jeunesse  a 
perdre  :  chez  toutes,  la  tenuite  de  l'ceuvre  originale,  ren- 
due  plus  delicate  encore  par  1'usage  du  brunissoir  pour  les 
touches  finales,  ne  pouvait  conserver  son  charme,  meme 
avant  l'usure,  que  pour  les  epreuves  les  plus  soigneuse- 
ment  tirees.  Les  tons  d'une  finesse  si  extraordinaire  de 
Richmond  from  the  moors  et  de  Llantony  Abbey,  ne  peu- 
vent  etre  goutes  que  sur  les  epreuves  du  graveur,  et  on 
n'en  trouverait  pas  deux  en  parfait  etat.  On  en  pourrait 
dire  autant  des  premieres  epreuves  de  l'ecole  de  Pye,  et 
cela  excuse  1' attitude  que  Ton  a  reprochee  aux  collection- 
neurs  des  gravures  de  Turner. 

Si  Ton  doit  en  croire  une  anecdote  de  Thornburv, 
Turner,  non  content  de  mettre  de  cote  les  quelques 
epreuves  parfaites  qu'on  avait  pu  tirer,  s'opposait  encore  a 
laisser  repandre  les  gravures  passables.  D'apres  cette  his- 
toire,  Turner,  que  Lawrence  engageait  a  faire  emploi  de  la 
mezzotinte,  repondait  qu'il  n'avait  pas  l'intention  de  se 
faire  auteur  de  gravures  a  bon  marche,  comme  celles  du 


portrait  de  lady  Peel  par  le  President,  qui  se  vendait,  di- 
sait-il,  dans  les  rues  pour  douze  sous.  Sans  parler  de 
l'impertinence  de  ce  langage,  etant  donnees  les  relations 
des  deux  artistes,  on  peut  dire  que  le  portrait  original  lut 
peint  trois  ans  apres  le  premier  essai  des  graveurs  de- 
Turner,  que  la  planche  en  question  fut  gravee  par  Ciller  deux 
ans  avant  que  Turner,  pour  les  raisons  decrites,  aban- 
donna  cette  methode.  Le  fait  que  la  planche  fut  gravee 
aux  frais  de  sir  Robert  Peel,  et  que  ce  fut  un  echec 
technique,  devait  l'empecher  de  devenir  une  gravure  des 
rues  a  cette  epoque,  et  explique  sa  rarete  aujourd'hui. 

Avec  la  fin  de  «  L'Angleterre  et  Pays  de  Galles  »,  l'interet 
particulier  de  l'ecole  turnerienne  de  gravure  perd  son  inte- 
ret  dans  l'histoire  generale  de  1'art  a  son  declin.  L'ouvrage 
execute  par  le  peintre  pour  les  graveurs  pendant  le  restant 
de  sa  vie,  prend  invariablement  la  forme  de  petites  illus- 
trations pour  des  livres  a  editer;  l'effet  et  la  resistance  des 
planches  etaient  les  deux  points  les  plus  importants.  Les 
ameliorations  qui  suivirent  l'invention  de  la  gravure  sur 
acier,  vers  1830  et  les  progres  generaux  de  l'art  —  dus  en 
grande  partie  aux  efforts  de  Turner  —  reduisirent  les 
conditions  requises,  mais  il  faut  reconnaitre  que  le  resultat 
tut  de  mettre  l'effet  des  planches  de  Turner  (350,  de  1825  a 
1839)  au  niveau  des  autres  gravures  de  l'epoque.  II  y  a 
des  exceptions,  surtout  avant  que  les  planches  d'acier 
fussent  tres  repandues ;  mais  le  gout  deploye  dans  /' Italie, 
de  Rogers  (1730),  dans  les  Poemes  (1834), fit  bientot  place  a 
une  monstrueuse  perfection  mecanique.  Et,  cependant,  la 
plupart  des  gravures  sont  l'ceuvre  du  groupe  qui  a  partage 
la  gloire  d'«  Angleterre  et  pays  de  Galles  ».  Deux  impor- 
tantes  recrues  :  Cousen  et  Armytage,  qui  s'y  joignirent 
pendant  l'elaboration  de  la  Seine  (1834- 1 83 5),  furent  bien- 
tot enregimentes  de  meme. 

Turner  continua  a  retoucher  ses  epreuves  avec  une 
patience  remarquable  et,  dans  certains  cas,  il  semble  avoir 
employe  cette  patience  comme  excuse  pour  reduire —  ce  tut 
le  cas  des  Rivieres  de  France  —  a  leur  plus  simple  expres- 
sion les  dessins  qui  devaient  servir  a  la  gravure.  11  n'exi- 
geait  pas  moins  des  graveurs  qui  executaient  les  vingt 
grandes  planches  d'apres  ses  peintures  a  l'huile.  Quelques 
notes  amusantes  les  accompagnent  en  marge  d'une  epreuve 
conservee  au  British  Museum  de  Miller  (1843)  de  Y Italie 
modeme,  et  par  les  lettres  imprimees  par  Thornbury, 
relatives  a  l'ex£eution  de  ce  projet.  Au  nombre  des  innom- 
brables  instructions  techniques  qui  remplissent  la  premiere 
lettre  (11  octobre  185 1)  il  indique  bien  les  raisons  du 
changement.  Toutes  out  rapport  a  la  necessite  des  inci- 
dents et  des  details.  II  taut  que  la  campagne  qui  se  voit 
dans  le  lointain  paraisse  bien  nue  «  sterile  et  plate  »  il  faudra 
remonter  le  premier  plan  par  des  touches  et  des  clairs  bril- 
lants,  et  un  enfant  en  haillons  sera  place  pour  augmenter 
l'interet  de  la  seance. 

Et  de  meme  ses  recommandations  pour  les  epreuves. 
Dans  une  autre  lettre  du  15  juin  1843,  1'auteur  du  Liber 

23 


Liste  des  hors  texte 


studiorum  s'informe  du  prix  dc  l'impression  dcs  gravures 
a  Edimbourg  (papier  compris)  «  les  mauvaises  epreuves  ne 
seront  pas  comptees,  et  quel  sera  le  montant  de  l'es- 
compte...  » 

Dix  ans  apres  la  date  de  cette  lettre,  1'ironie  du  destifi 
dispersait  dans  toutes  les  directions  ces  monceaux  d'or  qu'il 
avait  si  soigneusement  entasses  et  ces  epreuves  qu'il  gardait 
d'un  soin  si  jaloux. 

Et  voici  que  le  temple  du  naturalisrne  ou  les  contempo 
rains  de  Turner  lui  avaient  dresseun  monument,  commence 
a  s'ecrouler.  Grace  a  la  tradition  qui  a  entoure  sa  jeunesse, 
son  culte  sera  transporte  dans  le  sanctuaire  d'une  autre  foi. 
Un  savant  critique  italien  defendant  un  autre  peintre 
accuse  d'avoir  deserte  le  camp  des  classiques,  montrait  que 
ses  monotones  attitudes,  ses  draperies  conventionnelles,  ses 


yeux  sans  expression,  ses  pales  carnations  pouvaient  pro- 
duire  un  effet  surnaturel  et  mystique.  Comment  des  lors  dire 
que  Part  du  Correge  n'etait  pas  un  art  terrestre  et  materiel? 
Ne  se  peut-il  pas  que  la  posterite  qui  a  place  1'immortel 
Parmesan,  parmi  les  austeres  stylistes  des  premiers  temps, 
ne  juge  pas  Turner  dans  le  meme  esprit?  Le  zele  de  ses 
successeurs  a  montre  que  la  foi  de  Turner  dans  le  natura- 
lisrne n'etait  pas  si  profonde.  Dans  ses  dernieres  esquisses, 
dans  sa  derniere  planche,  on  pourrait  retrouver  les  ha'is- 
sables  idees  academiques  de  sa  jeunesse.  Mais  le  monde  a 
ferme  les  yeux.  Turuer  a  servi  a  reparer  le  chemin  oil  l'art 
du  paysage  briiannique  marche  encore  en  trebuchant,  et 
ses  defenseurs  racontent  combien  il  s'est  elev£,  combien  il  a 
baisse  depuis  le  jour  oil  il  s'est  uni  avec  la  Nature. 

Bell. 


LISTE  DES  HORS  TEXTE 


Planches  en  couleurs 

Premier  portrait  a  l'huile 

de  J.-. M-W.  Turner.  .  .  frontispice 

Danslalande   en  face       o  iv 

Un  orage  dans  la  montagne  —  o  vm 

Marine   —  o  xii 

Vieilles  maisons  a  Shrews-  * 

bury   —  mw  iv  j 

Fregates    et  bateaux   de  ) 

peche  dans  la  Medway.  —  m  wviii 

Composition   —  w      11  ) 

Richmond   —  w      iv  > 

Brougham  Castle,  Lowther  w     vi  \ 

Embouchurede  l'Humber.  w  vm  ) 
Stangate  Creek,  sur  la  Med-  ) 

way   —  w  5 

ArundelCastle;sur l'Arun.  —  w     10  } 

Chateau  d'Arc   —  W14-15  ) 

Cologne   —  w  22 

Ehrenbreitstein   —  w    28  j 

Etude  sur  le  Rhin.  ...  —  w 33-34  j 


Planches  en  fac-simile 
Lettre  de  Turner  a  son  pere.    entre  o  11  &  o  ill 


PortraitdeJ.-M.-W  Turner .  ...  m  w  1 

Planches  d'aprhs  les  epreuves 
du  "  Liber  studiorum  " 

Vaisseaux  par  le  mauvais  temps.  .  l  s  1 

Le  Pont  a  moitie  distance   L  s  2 

Hind  Head  Hill   l  s  3 

Crypte  de  l'Abbaye  de  Kirkstall.  .  .  ls  4 

Rispah   l  s  5 

Procris  and  Cephalus   l  s  6 

Norham  Castle  sur  la  Tweed.  ...  l  s  7 

Raglan  Castle   ls8 

Sol  way  Moss   ls  9 

Sol  way  Moss   lsio 

Les  Sources  de  l'Arveiron   ls  11 

Ben  Arthur  (Ecosse)   l  s  12 

/Esacus  et  Hesperie   l  s  13 

Le  Heron  et  l'aqueduc   l  s  14- 

Crowhurst,  Sussex.  Premiere  neige.  l  s  15 
Le   Pont  de   Suisse,   Mont  Saint- 

Gothard   l  s  16 


LISTE    DES  ILLUSTRATIONS 


9- 
10 
1 1 . 

I  2 

'3 
14, 

15- 

16. 
■7' 


19. 
20. 
2  1 . 
22. 
23. 


Section  A.  —  Peintures  a  l'huile 

Dolbadern  Castle,  North  Wales.  .  o  1 
La  cinquieme  plaie  d'Egypte  ...02 

Le  naufrage   o  3 

Conway  Castle   o  4 

La  mort  de  Nelson   05 

Les  deesses  de  la  Discorde  dans  le 

jardin  des  Hesperides   06 

Pilote  conduisant  un  caboteur  par 

un  temps  d'orage   o  7 

Le  moulin  et  l'ecluse   08 

Didon  construit  Carthage  ....  09 

Le  Passage  du  ruisseau   o  10 

Le  golfe  de  Baies  avec  Apollon  et 

la  Sybille   o  1 1 

Ulysse  raillant  Polypheme.  ...  012 

Vaisseaux  en  detresse  a  Yarmouth,  o  13 

Londres,  vue  de  Greenwich  ...  o  14 
Venise,   peinture   d'apres  Cana- 

lette   o  1 5 

Pelerinage  de  Childe-Harold.  Italie  o  16 
Agrippa  ramenant  les  cendres  de 

Germanicus   o  17 

Apres  la  moisson   018 

«  Le  Temeraire  »   019 

Le  soleil  de  Venise  allant  en  mer.  o  29 

Saint-Benedetto,  du  cote  de  Fusina  o  21 

Mercure  envoye  vers  Enee.  ...  o  22 

Pluie,  vapeur  et  vitesse   o  23 


Section  B.  —  Monochromes  et  premieres  S 
Aquarelles 

24.  Folly  Bridge  et  Bacon's  Tower,  \ 

Oxford   m  w  1  1 

25.  Paysage  alpestre   m  w  2  j 

26.  Tintern  Abbey   m  w  3  j 

27.  Lincoln  Cathedral   m  w  4  ) 


28. 

Cuisine  dans  Maiden-Lane  et 

mere  de  Turner  (?)  

M 

W 

5 

29. 

Une  Cascade  

m 

w 

6 

30. 

Warkworth  Castle,  Northum- 

berland   

M 

w 

7 

3<- 

Pass  of  Glencoe  (?)  

M 

w 

8 

32. 

Vue  de  Loch  Fyne  (?)  

m 

w 

9 

33- 

La  Source  de  l'Arveiron.  .  .  . 

m 

w 

10 

34- 

Une  Truie  

M 

w 

1 1 

35- 

Une  Vache  

M 

w 

12 

36. 

Un  Cygne  %  .  . 

M 

w 

13 

37 

Entree  de  la  Chartreuse.  .  .  . 

M 

w 

1  4 

38. 

Saint-Gothard  

M 

w 

1  5 

39- 

Le  Pont  du  Diable  

M 

w 

16 

40. 

Ponts  de  la  Grande  Chartreuse. 

M 

w 

17 

41. 

La  petite  Eglisede  St-H umber. 

M 

w 

18 

42. 

Chutes  de  Reichenbach.  .  .  . 

M 

w 

19 

43- 

Grenoble  

M 

w 

20 

44. 

Pres  de  la  Grande  Chartreuse. 

M 

w 

21 

45- 

Cascade  de  la  Grande  Char- 

treuse  

M 

w 

22 

40. 

Le  Pont  du  Diable  

M 

w 

23 

47- 

Chamonix,  Mer  de  Glace  .  .  . 

M 

w 

24 

48. 

Rome  :  Les  Pins   de  Monte- 

M 

w 

25 

49. 

Grenoble  et  le  Mont  Blanc.  .  . 

M 

w 

26 

50. 

Amsteg  sur  la  passe  du  Saint- 

Gothard  

M 

w 

27 

5 1  • 

Holy  Island  Cathedral  .... 

M 

w 

28 

52. 

M 

w 

29 

53- 

Vue  de  Rome  de  Monte  Mario. 

M 

w 

30 

54- 

La  Grande  Chartreuse  .... 

M 

w 

31 

55- 

Un  Bateau-pilote  

M 

w 

32 

56. 

Le  Colysee  

M 

w 

33 

57- 

M 

w 

34 

58. 

Vue  generale  de  Rome.  .  .  . 

M 

w 

3S 

59- 

Ville  et  chateau  d'Inverary  .  . 

M 

w 

36 

60. 

Sportsmen  dans  un  bois  .  .  . 

M 

w 

37 

Liste  des  Illustrations 


Section  C.  —  Les  dernieres  aquarelles 


61.  Fin  d'orage   w  i 

62.  Bonneville,  Savoie   w  2 

63.  Danse  francaise  en  sabots.  .  .  .  w  3 

64.  Scene  de  pare   w  4 

65.  La  Vallee  de  Chamonix   w  5 

66.  Etude  de  poisson   w  6 

67.  Canard  sauvage   w  7 

68.  Lancaster  Sands   w  8 

69.  Newcastle-on-Tyne   w  9 

70.  Sooneck  et  Bacharach   w  10 

7  1 .  Johannisberg   w  1  1 

72.  Farnley,  vu  de  Otley   w  12 

73.  Scarborough   w  13 

74.  More  Park,  sur  la  Colne   w  '4 

75.  Totness,  sur  la  Dart   w  13 

76.  Whitby   w  16 

77.  Okehampton  Castle   w  17 

78.  Portsmouth   w  18 

79.  Sheerness   w  19 

80.  Tivoli  :  La  ville  et  les  cascades.  .  w  20 

81.  Saint-Maurice   w  21 

82.  Keswick  Lake,  Cumberland .  .  .  w  22 

83.  Rouen,  du  cote  de  la  Seine.  ...  w  23 

84.  Paris  :  Pont-Neuf   w  24 

85.  Harfleur   w  25 

86.  Entre  Quilleboeuf  et  Villequier.  .  w  26 

87.  Saint-Germain   w  27 

88.  Pont  suspendu   w  28 

89.  Etude  d'une  eglise,  Tours .  ...  w  29 

90.  Saint-Denis   w  30 

91.  Paris  :  Hotel  de  Ville  et  pont 

d'Arcole                              .  w  31 

92.  Llanberis  Lake   w  32 

93.  Rouen   w  33 

94.  Paris  :  le  Marche  aux  Fleurs  et 

le  pont  au  Change   w  34 


95.  Chateau  Gaillard  vu  de  Test.  .  w  35 

96.  Honfleur   w  36 

97.  Arth,  vu  du  lac  de  Zug  ....  w  37 

98.  Luxembourg  (?)   w  38 

99.  Pont  et  passe  dans  les  Alpes  .  .  w  39 

100.  Drachenfels   w  40 

101.  Luxembourg  (?)   w  41 

102.  Coblentz  :  Pont  sur  la  Moselle,  w  42 

103.  Venise  :  Entree  du  Grand  Canal  w  43 
104  Goldau  :  Lac  de  Zug  dans  le 

lointain   w  44 

105.  Passe  du  Saint-Gothard,  pres  de 

Faido   w  43 

106.  Venise  :  le  Grand  Canal  .  .  .  IW46 

Section  E.  —  Gravures  d'apres  Turner 

107.  Pope's  Villa,  Twickenham  .  .  .    e  1 

108.  Mew  Stone,  Plymouth  e  2 

109.  Observatoire  de  Brighling,  vu  de 

Rosehill  Park   e  3 

1  10.  Cascades  d'Hardraw,  Richmond, 

Yorkshire   e  4 

mi.  Kirkby  Lonsdale  Churchyard.  .  e  5 

112.  Abbaye  de  Merrick,  Swaledale  .  e  6 

113.  Cascade  de  Terni   e  7 

1  14.  Colchester   e  8 

113.  Lancaster  Sands   e  9 

116.  Richmond,  Yorkshire   e  10 

117.  AlnwichCastle, Northumberland,  e  ii 

1  18.  Claimont   e  12 

1  19.  Sur  la  Loire   e  13 

120.  Melrose   e  14 

121  ■  Nineveh   e  1  5 

122.  Jumieges  e  16 

123.  Durham  Cathedral  e  17 

124.  Llanthony    Abbey,  Monmouth- 

shire e  1 8 


^ 


PARIS,   IMFRIMERIE   A     EYMEOUD,   2,   PLACE  DU  CArRE.   —  L ' ImpTimeUf-Gerdnt  :   A  EYMEOUD. 


NOTE 


Nous  avons  cherche  a  reunir  de  differents  cotes  un  choix  de 
dessins,  peintures  et  gravures  de  J.-M.-W.  Turner.  Les  repro- 
ductions que  nous  donnons  ici  montrent  1'ceuvre  du  grand  maitre 
dans  les  differentes  phases  de  sa  carriere  artistique. 

Les  aquarelles  vont  de  la  douzieme  annee  de  Turner  a  sa  fin. 
Les  monochromes  vont  depuis  les  premieres  etudes  des  Alpes 
jusqu'aux  dessins  en  brun  du  Liber  studiorum  et  les  esquisses  de 
Romeau  crayon.  Les  peintures  a  1'huile  commencent  avec  la  pein- 
ture  diplomee  de  1 800  et  vont  jusqu'au  Mercure  et  Unee  expose 
un  an  avant  la  mort  de  Turner. 

Les  seizeplanches duLiber  studiorum,  enfac-simile,  representent 
les  epreuves  les  plus  interessantes  et  les  plus  rares  de  la  collection 
Rawlinson  ;  les  gravures  faitesapres  la  mort  de  Turner  reproduisent 
quelques-unes  de  ses  aquarelles  les  plus  finies  et  montrent  1'etonnante 
habilete  des  graveurs  que  Turner  avait  diriges. 


^ 


* 


Oil-Painting.  Artist  Unknown 


EARLY  PORTRAIT  OF  J.  M.  W.  TURNER 


In  the  Collection  of  C.  Mallord  William  Turner,  Esq. 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 


fp^^^^^^^LL  forceful  artistic  realisation  is  a  transposi- 
ry  tion  of  Nature — and  each  new  essay  in  art  is 
a  return  to  Nature.  Every  time  an  original 
genius  appears  he  proceeds  to  extract  from 
Nature  some  truth  which  had  been  forgotten 
by  preceding  schools.  Hence  he  always  figures 
as  a  realist ;  and  such  he  is,  indeed,  in  one 
respect  :  he  is  a  realist  just  at  that  point  where 
his  immediate  predecessors  were  not.  But 
while  paying  fresh  homage  to  Nature  he  transposes  it  ;  and  by  dint 
of  transposing  comes  to  forget — and  that  same  school  which  owed 
its  birth  to  a  return  to  Nature,  which  derived  its  strength  from  a 
transposition  of  Nature,  may  ascribe  its  decadence  and  its  end  to 
forgetfulness  of  Nature.  Thus  the  same  innovator  will  seem  rather 
as  a  realist  to  those  who  have  preceded  him,  and  rather  as  an  idealist  to 
those  who  shall  follow.  And  the  two  opinions  are  right,  because  the 
masters,  while  resting  faithful  to  Nature  at  that  particular  point  where 
they  came  into  touch  with  it  again,  at  other  points  transpose  Nature, 
quite  unconsciously.  They  think  themselves  still  realists — as  one 
fancies  oneself  ever  young  ....  They  all  think  in  good  faith  they 
are  painting  the  pebble  lying  at  their  feet,  or  the  puddle  on  the  road- 
side, and  one  and  all  paint  you  a  precious  stone-which  no  one  can 
observe  at  his  feet,  and  a  sky  such  as  no  one  has  ever  seen  above  his 
head.  This  is  the  story  of  all  the  truly  strong  and  original  masters, 
of  all  the  schools  which  have  revived  art,  from  the  time  of  the 
Renaissance  down  to  that  of  our  own  Impressionists.  It  is  true  of 
Corot  as  of  Ingres,  of  Millet  as  of  Watteau,  of  Rembrandt  as  of 
Michel  Angelo.  But  of  no  painter  is  it  so  true,  perhaps,  as  of  that 
barber's  son  who  made  the  name  of  Turner  famous.  With  none 
other  is  it  so  hard  to  differentiate  in  his  art  between  that  which 
impels  one  to  say,  "  I  have  seen  that  !  "  and  that  which  causes  one  to 
exclaim,  "  How  I  should  like  to  see  that  !  "  or  to  discover  of  what 
sort  is  the  transformation  which  operated  in  his  imagination  and  in 
his  hand,  in  order  that  such  things  might  be  possible.  This  it  is,  in 
a  word,  which  renders  it  so  difficult  to  say  exactly  of  what  Turner's 
genius  is  composed. 

As  for  that,  which  of  his  works  should  we  study  ?  The  more  the 
better.  Turnerists  consider  the  master  to  have  had  five,  six,  or  even 
seven  "  manners."  This  is  too  many,  or  not  enough.  In  a  sense, 
Turner's  "  manners  "  were  almost  as  many  as  his  pictures,  or  at  any 
rate  as  his  subjects.    For  he  constantly  strove  to  employ  a  new  jacture 

o  i 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

for  each  separate  effect,  and  was  always  seeking  after  change.  He 
exhausted  the  entire  series  of  devices  with  oils  and  mediums  and 
brushes  and  palette  knives,  pursuing  his  pictures  even  to  the  exhi- 
bition gallery,  profiting  by  the  opportunities  offered  by  "  varnishing 
days "  to  transform  his  works  from  top  to  bottom,  alternately 
diminishing  or  raising  their  tone,  to  bring  them  into  keeping  with 
the  aspect  of  their  neighbours  ;  finally,  in  despair  at  his  inability  to 
expand  his  oils  as  he  did  his  water  colours,  he  boldly  stepped  across 
the  limitations  of  his  art,  and  on  the  oil-painted  foundation  he 
superimposed  details  painted  in  water  colours,  in  a  proportion  im- 
possible to  distinguish  exactly,  unless  one  were,  so  to  speak,  to  take 
the  canvas  to  pieces.    If  then  by  "  manners "  one  understand  all 
the  varieties  of  execution  possible  in  this  work  or  in  that,  one  would 
no  longer  be  able  to  divide  Turner's  275  best-known  canvases  into 
six  or  seven  "  manners,"  but  into  a  host  of  others  which  one  might 
for  ever  be  discovering  and  noting.     Moreover,  these  variations  are 
not  necessarily  successive,  in  the  sense  that  they  might  be  classed 
chronologically.    They  are  often  concomitant,  and  vary  not  according 
to  periods  but  to  subjects.    Thus,  after  1802  (see  his  Conway  Castle), 
when  he  paints  seas  and  beaches  his  foregrounds  are  simple  and  clear, 
and  free  from  the  traditional  black  repoussoir,  or  "  set-off,"  which 
down  to  that  date  had  been  the  primordial  element  of  "  classical " 
landscape  work.    On  the  other  hand,  when,  in  1823,  he  painted  in 
his  foregrounds  sketches  of  land  and  trees  (note  his  Bay  of  Baice), 
or  even  in  1832,  the  date  of  his  Childe  Harold's  Pilgrimage,  these 
works  are  carefully  provided  with  the  classic  repoussoir.     Or  take 
another  example.    From  the  outset  of  his  career  he  drew  ships  with 
rare  fidelity — their  curves,  their  foreshortenings  ;  yet  right  to  the 
end  he  treated  his  trees  in  accordance  with  the  most  commonplace 
academic  conventions  (observe  the  pines  in  the  two  landscapes  men- 
tioned, and  the  gigantic  tree  on  the  left  in  Crossing  the  Brook).  His 
pine-trees  are  represented  as  much  slimmer  than  they  are  in  reality, 
much  more  geometrical,  devoid  of  branches,  and  spreading  far  too 
high  for  human  heads  the  ironical  protection  of  their  parasols. 
Again,  although  his  painting  ever  continued  to  grow  brighter,  his 
Windmill  and  Lock,  done  in  1806,  is  executed  in  almost  a  light  key 
compared  with  that  extraordinary  Rembrandt  of  1829,  which  he 
called  Ulysses  deriding  Polyphemus.    Indeed,  his  "  manners,"  no  matter 
what  period  we  choose,  vary  according  to  the  object  he  is  painting, 
or  the  experiment  he  desires  to  attempt  ;  and  they  are  innumerable. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  one  is  content  to  discuss  simply  the  great 
evolutions  of  Turner's  genius — which  are  as  strongly  marked  in  him 
o  ii 


FACSIMILE  0?  LETTER  7R0U  J.  ft.  W.  TURNER  TO  III3  FATHER,  FROM  THE  ORIGINAL 
IN  THE  COLLECTION  OF  C.  MALLORD  W.  TURNER,  ESQ. 


<      f  y  /  ■ 

e-    So     4^*sr*-  -  'Say    Ojf-  ***** 

fzsi.  <y-A/£Z  .  . 


%rf<4k£>-  ijf  f*4- 


p&>,  styi£c  c^x-J  ^O'Io-lIo 


J 


^^y^   bf/u</L  O^^y^-c  As&ttst, 
frvly  i2t%j  fta^  fi/h*4*  c^LX  ■tdf**^ 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

as  are  in  Corot,  for  instance,  the  variations  between  the  views  of 
Rome  and  the  under-woods  of  Ville  d'Avray — one  finds  that  the 
English  master  has  three  perfectly  distinct  "  manners  "  :  firstly,  the 
classical  and  Wilsonian  style,  which  one  might  term  his  "  French 
manner "  ;  secondly,  the  realistic  English  manner  ;  and  lastly,  the 
evocational,  or  purely  Turnerian  manner.  They  correspond  with 
three  stages  of  human  thought,  which  are  the  three  stages  of  Art 
itself,  and,  borne  into  the  domain  of  facts,  the  three  stages  of  Life. 
First  manner  :  Nature  as  the  Masters  saw  it  ;  second  manner  : 
Nature  as  he  saw  it  himself ;  third  manner  :  Nature  as  he  wished  to 
see  it.  The  first  period  is  that  of  Law,  the  second  that  of  Love,  the 
third  that  of  the  Intellect  and  the  Will.  In  the  one  the  painter 
makes  art  in  admiration  of  the  Masters  ;  in  the  other  he  makes  art 
in  admiration  of  Nature ;  in  the  last  he  makes  "  art  for  art's  sake." 
In  the  first  he  does  not  feel  able  to  dispense  with  tradition,  in  favour 
of  consulting  Nature  ;  in  the  second  he  consults  Nature  alone  and 
direct  ;  in  the  third  he  feels  able  to  dispense  with  Nature  itself. 
From  former  observations  he  draws  a  series  of  deductions  more  and 
more  hazardous,  and  thus  himself  establishes  the  foundations  of 
another  and,  in  a  manner,  a  conventional  tradition.  These  three 
stages  are  normal  and  necessary,  but  it  is  the  second — that  of  direct 
observation — which  enriches  the  patrimony  of  art  ;  this  it  is  which 
gave  to  Turner  all  his  strength,  and  gave  him,  too,  the  elements  of 
his  originality. 

This  originality  is  the  chief  characteristic  of  his  works,  and  at  the 
first  glance  the  World,  and  Nature  and  Life  appear  before  us  revived. 
He  who  made  his  way  into  the  Turner  Gallery  at  the  Guildhall 
Exhibition  in  1899,  or  has  ever  visited  one  of  the  rare  and  mysterious 
collections  where  Turner  is  visible  on  the  Continent,  has  come  out 
with  a  vision  of  terrestrial  things  revived  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
have  made  him  feel  as  though  he  had  for  an  hour  been  treading 
some  unknown  planet.  .  .  . 

A  sea  strewn  with  archipelagoes  of  precious  stones,  palatial  amphi- 
theatres rising  from  the  waters,  retaining  still  the  shimmer  of  the 
corals  and  the  pearls  whence  they  have  emerged  ;  broad  perrons 
washed  unceasingly  by  waves  which  roll  against  the  threshold  of 
palaces,  fawning  like  tame  panthers — a  vast  Venice,  whose  canals 
are  oceans,  whose  parts  are  islands  floating  in  clear  and  moving 
waters — such  is  Turner's  world. 

And  when  it  occurs  to  him  one  day  to  paint  a  railway  (see  his  Steam, 
Rain  and  Speed),  his  very  railroad  passes  over  the  waters,  through  a 
water-spout,  amidst  such  a  liquid  conflagration  that  one  would  think 

o  iii 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

it  to  be  an  illustration  of  the  Creation,  or  that  day  when  the  Waters 
of  the  Heaven  were  divided  from  the  Waters  of  the  Earth.  An 
infinity  of  surprises  are  often  within  the  borders  of  one  great  frame  : 
long  flights  of  steps,  descending  from  lofty  terraces,  circling  around 
like  birds  about  to  alight,  and  which,  having  reached  the  sea,  tarry 
not,  but  plunge  beneath  the  waters,  leading  to  one  knows  not  what 
watery  empire,  to  what  other  submarine  palaces  ;  and  trees  spring 
up,  like  jets  of  water,  green,  red  and  orange,  to  the  skies.  Gondolas 
crowding  close  to  palaces  in  groups  like  little  timorous  children,  or 
else  apart,  their  gold  or  purple  horns  doubled  by  the  reflection. 
Whole  rows  of  palaces  with  the  innumerable  lines  of  their  ruined 
columns  stretching  in  long  alignment  ;  whole  rows  of  ships  and 
carave//es,  their  shadows  mingling  and  contesting  in  the  waters — a 
multitude  of  things,  massive  and  sumptuous,  which  hang  and  steep 
in  thick  and  multi-coloured  medley.  How  one  can  picture  the 
hordes  of  Barbarians  and  Turks  and  Algerians  thronging  these  holds, 
or  lurking  under  the  drapery  or  sail  and  rigging  !  And  the  hidden 
arms,  the  stolen  treasure,  and  fruits  juicy  and  o'er-ripe  !  What 
a  jumble  of  floating  oranges  and  half-open  pomegranates  ;  what  a 
mass  of  vegetable  refuse  in  these  Venetian  waters  at  the  approaches 
to  the  morning  market-places — and  at  the  same  time  what  piece 
of  jewellery,  what  cunning  pyrotechnic  display,  what  cultivated 
flower-patch  on  the  Riviera  could  equal  the  effect  that  Turner 
has  made  of  all  this  ?  Has  anything  so  rich  to  the  eye  ever 
left  the  jeweller's  hand  ?  The  gold-dusted  green  of  the  imperial 
beetle,  the  yellowish-green  of  the  cypress,  the  blue  of  the  Brazilian 
butterfly,  the  deep  sapphire  of  the  beetle,  the  emerald  of  the 
sacred  scarabasus,  the  splendours  of  the  cicindela — all  may  be 
seen  in  these  blots  and  slabs  of  colour,  heavy  and  mysterious 
like  ancient  stained-glass.  "  But  I  tell  you  they  are  elephants  !  " 
exclaimed  M.  Victorien  Sardou  to  Alexandre  Dumas  the  younger,  as 
they  looked  at  these  gondolas — and  in  this  illusion  he  thus  pictured 
all  the  glories  of  the  Indies.  They  are  indeed  enigmas — and  Turner 
was  for  ever  setting  them.  "Guess  !  "  he  keeps  urging,  "Guess  !  " 
And  one's  fancy  starts,  reconstructs  these  palaces  and  towers,  listens  to 
the  sound  of  bells  in  invisible  campaniles,  pictures  motley  multitudes 
on  hazy  terraces.  Then  the  horizon  clears  again.  Here  and  there, 
marking  the  distances,  a  pillar  enters  the  water  like  a  tree,  and 
plunges  therein,  as  it  were  a  serpent.  Ships  hang  between  the 
moving  canvas  of  the  liquid  street  and  the  endless  fan  of  the  heavens. 
See  the  horizon  ;  the  sun,  like  a  King  who  halts  at  the  top  of  the 
staircase  he  is  about  to  descend,  illumines  all  around  with  his  presence 
o  iv 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

— palaces,  masts  and  ruins — and  his  reflection  goes  from  wave  to 
wave,  right  to  the  shore  itself,  as  it  were  on  the  uncertain,  shifting 
steps  of  a  staircase  of  azure — and  above  the  clouds  trail  their  tawny 
robes  bearing  his  colours.  The  heavens  breathe  free,  and  the  waters 
flap.  The  buoys  dance  incessantly  on  their  fat  red  bellies — and  as 
it  approaches  the  limits  of  the  frame  the  cloud  system  develops, 
spreading  out,  taking  up  ground,  and  soaring  high.  Right  at  the 
edge,  the  white  cloudlets,  like  gauze  attached  to  an  opera  frieze, 
begin  to  take  fire. 

In  this  Infinite,  which  is  bluish,  but  scarce  blue,  and  slashed  with 
straggling  clouds  like  flock  silk,  one  feels  the  intoxication  of  Space  ; 
and  little  by  little  that  feeling  vanishes  in  the  light.   Is  it  Venice  ?  Is 
it  Carthage  ?     Is  it  Constantinople  or  Odeypore  ?    The  campanile 
dimly  seen  in  the  blue  and  white  mottled  sky  ;  the  phantoms  of 
arcades  leading  to  somewhere  which  one  can  imagine  to  be  the 
Hotel  Danieli — these  are  not  enough  to  make  one  sure.    It  is  archi- 
tecture of  water  and  of  sky.    Now  it  is  a  harmony  with  the  red 
dominant  of  Grenada,  now  with  the  citron  and  pale  blue  dominant 
around  which  all  colour  symphonies  are  grouped. 
At  a  dinner  at  which  Frith  was  present,  the  salad  was  offered  to 
Turner,  who  showed  it  to  his  neighbour,  Lord  Overstone,  remarking  : 
"  Nice  cool  green  in  that  lettuce,  isn't  it  ?  and  the  beetroot  a  pretty 
red — not  quite  strong  enough — and  the  mixture — delicate  tint  of 
yellow,  that — add  some  mustard,  and  you  have  one  of  my  pictures  !  " 
That  is  the  truth,  and  no  more  is  needed — with  the  artist's  aid — to 
evoke  in  the  imagination  an  ideal  world.    The  material  used  by  the 
master  is  the  most  precious  imaginable  ;  indefinable  as  pollen  dust, 
imponderable  as  a  ray  of  light.    The  brush,  light  as  a  magnetic  pass, 
seems  to  have  gone  over  the  canvas,  from  mast  to  mast,  from  steeple 
to  steeple  like  a  bee — a  bee  alighting  on  forms,  not  on  flowers,  and 
not  to  carry  them  away,  but  rather  to  give  them  that  which 
constitutes  their  whole  value,  and  is  their  very  soul — their  colour. 
One  often  hears  it  said  by  those  who  look  at  these  pictures  : 
"  But  it  isn't  such  and  such  a  town,  nor  such  and  such  a  river,  nor 
such  and  such  a  country."    And  nevertheless,  they  give  better  than 
aught  else  the  impression  of  that  particular  town,  or  river,  or  country. 
What  is  the  meaning  of  it  all  ? 

In  the  first  place,  that  which  gives  us  our  impression  of  a  country, 
or  a  town,  or  a  landscape,  is  some  dominant  trait,  more  strongly 
accentuated  there  than  elsewhere,  some  new  characteristic  which 
takes  one  out  of  the  ordinary  conditions  of  life.  A  town  seems  to  be 
floating  on  the  water  :  Venice  ;  or  to  be  built  of  jewels,  proof  against 

o  v 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

the  assault  of  the  seasons  :  Florence  ;  or  sleepily  crouching  over  still 
waters  :  Bruges.    In  these  towns  are  many  other  features  which  cause 
them  to  resemble  every  other  town,  but  these  traits  alone  make 
Venice  Venice,  and  Florence  Florence,  and  Bruges  Bruges.  The 
same  with  regard  to  landscape  :  when  provengal  the  very  structure 
of  the  soil  shows  itself  in  great  lines  and  herring-bones,  and  the  globe 
looks  to  one  like  a  dilapidated  piece  of  sculpture  about  which  a  few 
blades  of  grass  and  parietal  vegetation  have  sprung.    In  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Paris  on  a  fine  spring  afternoon  one  has  the  impression  of 
dazzle,  as  through  a  luminous  sieve.   On  some  fair  autumnal  evening 
in  the  centre  of  France  a  mass  of  forest  outlines  itself  against  the  red 
sunset  in  black  arabesques,  like  the  entrelacs  on  the  missal's  gold. 
One's  inner  being  is  astonished  by  this  new  feature,  projecting 
beyond  the  rest ;  and,  happy  in  reading  with  added  clearness  one 
of  the  notes  of  universal  harmony,  one  longs  to  see  it  written  still 
further,  to  see  it  defined  or  accentuated  more  deeply.    Arrives  the 
artist :  he  extracts  this  one  trait  from  reality  ;  he  underlines  it, 
effacing  or  minimising  the  others,  and  that  which  our  senses  guessed 
at  vaguely,  or  hardly  noticed,  becomes  the  principal  feature  of  his 
work.    He  reveals  to  us  but  one  thing  in  such  and  such  landscape — 
its  structure  ;  of  another,  one  thing  only — its  dazzle  and  glitter  ;  of  a 
third,  its  arabesques.    All  else  is  subordinated,  forgotten,  ignored. 
This  dominant  sensation  becomes  an  exclusive  sensation,  and  one  day 
maybe  it  grows  into  a  necessity.    Thenceforth  the  artist  does  not 
seek  to  do  what  he  sees.    He  strives  to  do  that  which  strikes  him  in 
what  he  sees,  to  see  it  more  completely,  to  show  it  to  others  as  the 
sole  thing  to  be  seen  therein.    "  The  wish  is  father  to  the  thought." 
In  a  boat  lashed  by  the  tempest  all  that  subsists  is  the  impression  of 
headlong  flight  before  the  wind,  and  a  leaping  over  obstacles,  the 
straining  of  masts,  the  letting  loose  of  the  atmosphere,  the  baffling 
of  the  sea.    In  an  Italian  landscape  nought  remains  but  the  sense  of 
warm  and  golden  languor,  a  sky  full  of  perfumes  and  an  earth  of  sun- 
rays,  amid  infinite  calm  and  silence. 

Secondly,  our  impression  of  a  landscape  is  produced  by  one  dominant 
feature.  Yes,  but  that  impression  is  formed  not  alone  on  the 
evidence  of  a  single  sense. 

Of  all  the  perceptions  one  receives  of  a  country,  that  of  sight  is 
doubtless  the  best  calculated  eventually  to  bring  it  back  to  the  memory. 
Once  we  used  to  scribble  in  an  album,  now  we  just  press  a  kodak 
button — and  call  it  "  bringing  back  a  souvenir."  It  has  never 
occurred  to  any  one  to  note  the  sounds  of  a  town,  a  port  or  a  forest, 
in  order  to  be  able  to  recall  them,  or  turn  them  into  a  musical 
o  vi 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

phrase  ;  nor  does  one  take  note  of  their  odours  to  give  the  recipe  to 
one's  perfumer,  and  thus  obtain  an  "  evocation  "  at  will.    No,  the 
strongest  impression  is  that  of  the  eyes,  and  the  reproduction  of 
that  impression  will  affect  our  whole  being  more  powerfully  than 
the  reproduction  of  the  impression  made  on  all  or  any  of  the  other 
senses  ;    will  best  reconstitute  the  desired  picture  in  the  "  dark 
room"  of  our  memory — at  the  same  time,  strong  as  is  the  impression 
of  the  eyes,  it  is  not  the  only  impression  one  obtains.    Recall  some 
summer  night  on  the  Grand  Canal,  near  the  Rialto,  after  an  excur- 
sion round  the  Isles,  or  towards  the  main  sea :  one's  ears  are  full  of 
music,  one's  nostrils  of  the  scent  of  flowers — flowers  that  trail  in 
the  waters,  songs  that  linger  in  the  air.    The  indolent  winds  are 
all-too  weak  to  carry  off  the  odours  of  the  place — the  smell  of  the 
markets  with  its  vegetables,  the  smell  of  the  quay  with  its  tar. 
Through  the  tactile  sense,  one  recalls  the  winds  blowing  on  face  and 
hair,  the  rocking  of  the  waves  ;  and  these  things  mingle  unconsciously, 
but  deeply,  with  the  visual  impression  received,  so  that,  little  by 
little,  the  sensations  experienced  through  scent  and  sound  and  touch 
have  a  strong  influence  on  the  principal  sensation — that  of  sight. 
If,  then,  the  artist  should  create  a  work  which  is  more  acute,  more 
penetrating  than  are  the  forms  perceived  by  the  sight  alone,  do  not 
let  us  rush  to  the  conclusion  that  he  has  borne  false  witness  against 
Nature.    Possibly  the  general  impressson  will  be  infinitely  superior 
to  an  exact  photographic  reproduction,  for  the  reason  that  this 
intense  poetisation,  obtained  by  means  connected  with  the  sight — by 
paint,  in  fact — may  very  well  correspond  with  the  intense  poetisation 
with  which  hearing,  scent  and  touch  have  supplemented  the  simple 
vision. 

These  waters  of  reflex,  these  misty  veils  mingling  with  the  clouds  ot 
the  air,  these  infinite  shimmerings  dividing  the  surface  of  the  sea 
into  close  meshes,  these  breaks  in  the  skies,  produce,  by  their  ex- 
aggeration and  their  accumulation,  a  sensation  of  the  blowing  wind. 
The  hanging  of  these  gondolas  between  sea  and  sky  suggest  the 
Djinn 

Qui  sur  un  pied  danse 
Au  bout  d'un  not. 

The  extraordinary  lustre  of  these  brocades,  this  gold,  these  precious 
stones,  recall  so  vividly  the  heaps  of  flowers  we  had  smelt  in  Venice, 
that  the  odours  lurking  in  our  memory  awake  and  float  up  to  us 
again.  And  then  this  freedom  of  movement,  this  extraordinary 
fantasy  of  palaces  crowded  together,  as  it  were  by  a  sort  of  maritime 

o  vii 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 
Piranesi,  evokes  the  idea  01  a  life  of  melody,  and  our  ears  are  full  of 
the  old  Neapolitan  refrains,  sung  in  chorus  by  the  sailors  among 
the  ropes.  This  fantastic  aspect  of  Venice  is  not  the  Venice  one 
sees  through  the  eyes,  as  it  were  a  photograph  or  a  picture,  faithful 
and  true  in  tone  ;  yet  it  is  far  and  away  the  best  impression  we  have 
of  Venice,  as  seen  with  our  eyes,  breathed  by  our  lungs,  heard  with 
our  ears — and  drank  in  and  absorbed,  so  to  speak,  by  all  our  senses  ; 
and  such  is  Turner's  work.  .  .  . 

And  the  same  with  one's  impression  of  the  Northern  Seas,  with 
their  storm-beaten  ports,  reeking  of  salt  and  tar  and  coal  ;  cold,  too, 
and  wet  and  lashing — things  which  in  painting  can  only  be  expressed 
by  a  representation  of  the  wind,  or,  generally  speaking,  of  the 
atmosphere,  that  is  to  say,  by  the  most  complicated  play  of  clouds 
which  break,  vapours  which  sail  through  the  air,  and  sails  which 
belly  'neath  the  wind — visible  witnesses  of  an  invisible  element. 
To  render  all  this  is  to  be  not  idealist,  but  naturalist,  whatever  the 
methods  employed.  Doubtless,  Turner's  "  documents  "  were  quite 
insignificant — not  more  than  forty  oil  studies  and  notes  innumerable 
made  on  scraps  of  letter-paper,  incoherent  jottings,  "  quite  unin- 
telligible to  others,"  as  Cyrus  Redding  puts  it.  But  these  "  docu- 
ments "  were  true,  and  for  him  were  full  of  revelations.  None  but 
Turner  himself  could  have  used  them,  but,  using  them,  he  painted 
more  truly  than  any  other. 

"  Look,"  said  he  to  his  travelling  companion.  "  Look  well ;  you 
will  see  that  again  one  of  these  days  ;  but  let  us  go,  let  us  go,  the 
effect  is  passing  away  !  "  Back  in  his  studio,  he  reconstituted  the 
scene,  putting  in  many  bits  of  perfectly  true  landscape  which  he 
had  seen,  and  seen  well. 

There  are  two  modes  of  being  naturalistic  :  doing  what  Nature 
has  realised,  or  doing  what  Nature  can  realise  ;  copying  her  results, 
or  inspiring  oneself  by  her  laws.  Turner  perhaps  did  not  paint  any 
one  of  his  pictures  "  after  "  Nature,  and  some  hundreds  he  certainly 
painted  without  having  Nature  before  his  eyes.  Is  such  a  thing 
legitimate  ?  Is  it  absurd  ?  May  it  not  be  necessary  sometimes  ? 
Here  we  must  distinguish  clearly.  An  object  which  does  not  change 
its  form  in  two  or  three  hours,  one  which  does  not  change  colour  in 
twenty  or  thirty  minutes,  which  can  be  found  every  day,  or  nearly 
every  day  in  the  same  place,  unchanged  in  colour,  and  lighted  in 
the  same  manner  :  a  tree,  for  example,  a  house,  a  pool,  a  rock. 
The  naturalist  cannot  do  better  than  paint  such  things  direct  from 
Nature,  from  the  first  touch  to  the  last,  in  accordance  with  the 
precept  laid  down  by  Ruskin  for  the  P.R.B.  in  their  early  days, 
o  viii 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

Perhaps  at  the  end,  to  get  more  freedom,  he  will  repaint  it — as  Corot 
desired  to  do — without  looking  at  Nature  ;  but  if  at  any  moment 
he  should  have  need  to  assure  himself  of  a  form  or  of  a  tone,  he 
looks,  and  as  Nature  is  always  there,  incapable  of  change,  her  presence 
is  a  support  to  him.  In  Crossing  the  Brook  or  The  Bay  of  Baice 
Turner  could  only  gain  by  sticking  as  closely  as  possible  to  his 
model.  He  looked  at  the  trees,  instead  of  imagining  them.  But 
when  it  was  a  question — and  with  Turner  it  often  was  a  question — 
of  things  which  one  cannot  study  from  beginning  to  end  because 
they  pass  away  so  quickly — forms  and  colours,  fantasies  which 
Nature  makes  and  unmakes  unceasingly,  like  the  liquid  embroidery 
of  the  waves,  or  the  Penelopean  tapestry,  or  the  play  of  sunlight  on 
watery  vapours — then  to  produce  your  pictures  direct  from  Nature 
is  of  no  use  whatever.  Long  before  one  has  fixed  the  form  of  a 
wave  it  has  broken  on  the  strand  ;  the  tint  of  a  cloud — it  has 
vanished  into  space  ;  a  figure  of  vapour — "  Fata  morgana  "  has 
passed.  ...  If  one  continue  to  put  into  juxtaposition  a  new 
form,  and  the  old  form  which  it  contradicts,  or  add  a  fresh  cloud 
tone  to  the  precedent  tone,  which  it  obscures,  one  is  doing  what 
Nature  does  not  do.  From  excess  of  conscientiousness  in  reproducing 
Nature,  the  artist  has  betrayed  her. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  artist  who,  after  having  thoroughly 
absorbed  the  laws  of  water  in  movement,  the  groupings  of  clouds  and 
the  reflections  of  oblique  light  on  the  screen  of  vapours  in  long 
observation  of  the  sea,  and  after  having  taken  copious  notes,  returns 
to  his  studio,  retains  in  his  memory  the  forms  which  have  most 
strongly  impressed  him.  Knowing  how  Nature  contrives  to  set  forth 
her  spectacle,  he  acts  accordingly.  That  which  she  has  created  he 
re-creates.  That  which  she  has  stammered  he  says  outright,  and  thus 
he  realises  something  which  perhaps  he  has  not  seen,  something  which 
perhaps  Nature  has  not  accomplished,  but  which  she  could  accom- 
plish, something  which  it  were  possible  one  might  see.  Whereas 
he  who  laboriously  juxtaposes  a  crowd  of  veritable,  but  successive, 
effects,  depicts  an  ensemble  such  as  Nature,  which  is  one  and  har- 
monious, never  produces,  can  never  produce,  an  ensemble  such  as  one 
can  never  witness. 

What  was  Turner's  method  of  observation  ?  Continuous  ?  No, 
but  intense  and  continually  reminiscent.  One  knows  his  life — that 
of  a  recluse,  full  of  monotony,  buried  within  the  darkest  house  in 
the  dingiest  part  of  London,  varied  by  rare  flights  to  the  English 
seaports,  or  to  the  land  of  Sun.  As  for  his  surroundings,  we  know 
what  they  were  too,  for  his  biographers  have  described  for  us,  too 

o  ix 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

often,  perhaps,  the  sordid  house  whence  never  a  green  leaf  was 
to  be  seen,  nor  often  the  sky  itself — a  house  so  desolate  that  one 
might    have    thought    some    great   crime    had  been  committed 
therein  ;    a  house   at  which    the  very  tax-collector   might  have 
ceased  to  call.    "  Some  one,"  remarked  the  policeman,  "  is  sup- 
posed to  live  there."    And  "Some  one"  did  live  there  in  fact: 
some  one  endowed  with  a  visual  memory  so  vast,  and  with  a  re- 
active rorce  so  great,  that  he  transformed  this  foggy,  smoky  place 
into  one  of  radiant  horizons,  thrusting  back  the  walls  around  him  so 
far  into  space  and  time  that  neither  the  East  nor  the  ages  past  ever 
equalled  in  splendour  the  luminous  projections  of  his  seething  brain. 
And  not  only  was  this  seclusion  the  reverse  of  injurious  to  his 
imaginings  ;  it  was  even  indispensable  to  them.    The  art  criticism 
of  to-day  holds  it  as  an  element,  and  almost  as  a  condition,  of  success 
that  the  artist  should  live  in  the  midst  of  the  surroundings  he 
describes  or  paints.    Now  this  opinion,  banal  as  it  is — so  banal  as  to 
have  penetrated  as  far  as  the  theses  laid  down  at  the  Sorbonne — is 
nevertheless  radically  false.    The  history  of  art  flatly  gives  it  the  lie. 
None,  assuredly,  painted  the  splendour  of  the  Continent  as  did  this 
insulaire,  nor  the  movement  of  the  seas  like  this  recluse.    He  was 
for  ever  thinking  of  these  things — and  although  he  did  not  know 
them  physically,  his  spirit  was  never  absent  therefrom.    Here  we  touch 
on  one  of  the  profoundest  traits  in  the  British  character.  The 
English  are  a  race  for  whom  the  Continent  is  a  sort  of  Promised 
Land,  the  home  of  the  Ideal,  a  Canaan  with  its  gigantic  grapes, 
something  akin  to  what  in  art  and  poetry  China  was  for  a  long 
time  to  Japan,  that  other  satellite-isle  gravitating  around  that  other 
Continent.    The  English  do  not  tell  you  this — in  perfect  good  faith 
they  believe  the  contrary.    But  their  art,  their  works,  betray  their 
secret  thoughts  by  showing  where  their  imagination  lies — Italy,  the 
shores  of  Provence,  Spain,  the  mountains  of  Switzerland  and  the 
Tyrol,  the  lands  of  the  olive,  the  orange  and  the  grape.    All  that 
England  does  not  possess  haunts  the  Englishman's  spirit.    For  him 
the  ideal  is  there — and  especially  in  the  sunshine,  in  the  twilight,  in 
those  violent  burning  tones  which  never  show  themselves  on  his 
isle,  save  by  accident,  and  then  only  by  a  superficial  effect  of  light, 
not  as  local  colour,  properly  belonging  to  the  objects  it  reveals. 
Now,  that  which  is  rare  is  precious.    When  Ruskin  describes  the 
paternal  garden  where  his  childhood  was  spent  he  uses  a  word  which 
sounds  strangely  in  the  Southerner's  ear  :  "Clustered  pearl,"  he  says, 
"  and  pendant  ruby,  joyfully  discoverable  under  the  large  leaves  that 
looked  like  Vine''    The  Vine  !    Here  is  a  splendid  far-away  symbol, 
o  x 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

promise  or  a  nature  and  a  civilisation,  gay,  smiling  and  perfumed. 
Thus  the  promise  of  the  ancient  world  is  contained  entire  in  the 
little  wild  olive  tree  sprouting  with  difficulty  neath  a  rock  on  the 
hill-side  of  the  Rhone,  a  hundred  kilometres  above  Provence.  The 
men  who  will  attach  so  much  sentiment  to  so  slight  a  thing  are  not 
those  who  will  let  go  aught  of  the  impressions  they  take  in  presence 
of  the  land  of  their  dreams.  They  will  translate  them  on  the  spot, 
wholly  and  entirely.  On  reaching  Venice  the  English  artist — 
especially  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century — coming  from 
so  far  and  for  so  short  a  time,  has  but  one  idea,  which  is  to  carry  away 
all  Venice  in  his  eyes  and  in  his  heart.  Compare  him  for  a  moment 
with  his  Italian  confrere.  The  Venetian  quits  his  calle,  strolls  along, 
looks,  admires  ;  but  he  will  find  it  all  there  on  the  morrow,  the 
Giudecca  in  the  same  place,  the  same  domes  curving  against  the 
sky,  the  same  gondolas  on  the  canal,  and  the  same  waters  repeating 
the  forms  and  the  hues  of  the  same  palaces  in  the  lisping  of  their 
reflections.  He  is  in  no  hurry  to  reproduce  all  this  ;  he  simply 
enjoys  it.  He  lets  his  fancy  rock  idly  on  these  waters  which  will 
never  dry  up,  lets  it  ripen  in  this  sunlight  which  shall  never  be  put 
out.  His  love,  as  it  were,  is  too  sure  to  be  keenly  felt — and  he 
turns  away  to  eat  an  ice  at  Florian's  this  afternoon  which  will  have 
no  end  !  Then  he  goes  home  .  .  .  having  done  nothing.  The 
Englishman,  for  his  part,  knows  well  the  afternoon  must  end,  knows 
that  soon  he  must  be  back  again  in  the  yellow  fog,  in  the  dense 
cold  atmosphere.  So  he  inhales,  devours,  absorbs  through  all  the 
papills  of  his  imagination.  He  wants  this  sun  ;  he  grips  this 
vision.  His  strength  springs  from  his  desire,  his  faculties  increased 
tenfold  by  his  despair.  His  genius  is  born  of  his  love. 
Thus,  art  does  not  spring  necessarily  from  the  milieu  wherein  the 
creator  lives.  Most  of  the  great  landscapists  of  the  century — Corot, 
Rousseau,  Turner — were  born  in  big  towns,  children  of  home- 
staying  folk,  dwelling  in  gloomy  little  shops. 

The  things  one  feels  most  deeply  in  life  are  not  those  one  has  lived 
most  :  they  are  those  one  would  have  most  ardently  desired  to  live, 
those  encountered  in  some  moment  of  ecstasy,  those  one  has  had  to 
abandon  for  ever. 

The  art  which  springs  from  the  deepest  sources  of  the  human  heart 
is  not  necessarily  an  emanation  of  one's  surroundings,  a  product  of 
the  race,  in  a  word,  an  emanation  of  life.  On  the  contrary,  art  is 
often  the  magic  ring  placed  by  the  artist  on  his  own  finger  and  on 
the  finger  of  those  who  desire  it  in  order  to  forget  the  world  in 
which  they  live.    Often  it  is  a  revenge  against  the  littlenesses,  the 

o  xi 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

chances,  the  vulgarities  of  one's  surroundings,  a  rebellion  against  the 
tyrannies  of  race,  a  resistance  of  the  tendency  of  an  epoch.  Art  is  a 
retaliation  on  Life. 

Withal,  Turner  is  English — English  in  his  subjects,  English  in  his 

passion  for  Nature,  English  in  his  colour.    His  foremost  subject  is 

the  sea,  not  the  mere  grey  or  blue  line  of  the  horizon  setting  ofF  a 

landscape,  or  some  unused  lagoon,  wherein    are    generated  and 

multiply  the  puny  lives  of  an  inferior  animal  existence  :  'tis  the 

open,  redoubtable,  ever-varying  sea,  at  times  under  control  although 

in  motion,  occasionally  narrowed  in  the  confines  of  a  port,  but  with 

an  outlet  on  the  infinite.    He  has  gone  in  quest  of  the  moments 

when  the  water  is  itself,  when  it  possesses  a  physiognomy,  is  not  a 

simple  track  cloven  by  ships,  or  a  mirror  into  which  one  gazes  ;  but 

when  it  is  at  one  and  the  same  time  an  obstacle  and  a  help,  akin  to 

an  uncertain  character,  and  quivering  with  a  passion  that  is  unstable 

and  restless,  yet  proper  to  it.    It  is,  moreover,  the  great  highway  by 

which  England  communicates  with  the  world's  immensity,  and 

through  which  the  British  Empire  is  in  touch  with  its  colonies. 

This  passion  for  the  Ocean  conceals  seemingly  the  vague  desire  or 

realising  the  poet's  aspiration  : 

Faire  une  ceinture  au  monde 
Du  sillon  de  notre  vaisseau.  .  .  . 

He  loves  as  one  might  a  horse,  nay  better  than  a  horse,  the  ship  which 
carries  him  ;  he  describes  it,  sings  it,  portrays  its  greatness,  ways,  deca- 
dence, in  short,  its  life,  and  sheds  tears  over  its  death  as  over  that  of  a 
living  thing.  Only  an  Englishman  could  conceive  the  idea  of 
painting  the  Fighting  Temeraire  being  towed  along  to  the  dockyard 
where  it  will  be  broken  up  into  firewood,  gate-posts,  and,  perchance, 
relics  dyed  with  the  blood  of  the  victors  of  Trafalgar.  And,  on  the 
evening  when  going  down  the  river  towards  Greenwich,  and  meet- 
ing this  funeral  procession,  Turner's  friend  remarked  to  him, 
"  This,  Turner,  is  a  subject  for  you,"  they  understood  each  other, 
for  two  British  souls  had  communed.  Turner  is  guided  by  his 
deep-lying  national  affinity  even  in  the  execution  of  his  antique 
subjects,  in  his  score  of  visions  of  Carthage,  which  make  him,  so  to 
speak,  the  Flaubert  of  painting.  The  world  of  the  ancients  was 
separated  by  inaccessible  mountains,  and  united  by  the  sea.  It  was 
divided  by  various  customs,  traditions,  and  languages,  but  united  by 
one  and  the  same  sea,  which  imperceptibly  and  by  degrees,  created 
simultaneously  with  one  climate,  one  spirit,  identical  commercial 
customs  and  palaces,  similar  manners,  and  a  common  language. 
Things  were  different  in  the  interior  ;  barriers  stood  between  the 
o  xii 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

peoples.  It  was  on  land  that  imagination  called  forth  the  strange 
populations  described  by  Pliny,  the  Pigmies,  Thibians,  and  others. 
The  sea,  on  the  contrary,  was  geographically  well  known  ;  and  quite 
recently  a  French  savant,  Victor  Berard,  has  demonstrated  that 
Homer's  "  Odyssey  "  is  geographically  far  more  exact  than  hitherto 
credited.  Even  nowadays,  a  stroll  among  the  ruins  of  Ostia  is 
sufficient  to  make  the  traveller  realise  the  importance  of  that  Medi- 
terranean which  conveyed  grain  and  precious  stuffs,  whose  waters 
transported  melodious  languages  and  songs,  and  disseminated  creeds. 
In  those  days  the  sea  was  looked  upon  as  the  highway  of  all  pro- 
gress. From  ./Eneas  to  St.  Augustine  and  St.  Monica,  the  entire 
ancient  world,  thyrsus  or  cross  in  hand,  turned  its  gaze  towards  the 
sea.  Nowadays,  a  solitary  nation  experiences  the  same  feeling 
towards  it,  and  with  the  same  intensity  :  England.  The  painter  of 
the  sea  was  of  necessity  to  be  born  in  England.  And,  if  he  drew 
his  subject  from  antiquity,  it  was  bound  to  be  imbued  with  the  soul- 
state  which  became  that  of  the  first  Christian  churches,  or  the  city 
which,  more  than  any  other,  incarnates  and  embodies  the  maritime 
power  of  antiquity  :  Carthage. 

Again,  Turner  is  English  in  his  passion  for  colour.  This  passion  is 
made  manifest  in  all  English  works,  from  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury to  the  present  day,  when  placed  in  juxtaposition  with  the 
contemporaneous  paintings  of  other  countries.  Such  has  been  the 
goal  of  English  endeavour,  of  English  criticism.  When  Ruskin  chides 
some  Continental  painter,  it  is  ever  because  of  his  lack  of  colour. 
The  English  were  alone  capable,  in  their  strange  colour-appetite,  of 
discovering  that  the  ancients,  that  Titian  and  the  rest,  originally 
made  a  glaring  and  crude  use  of  colour,  and  that  the  softness  and 
soberness  nowadays  so  admired  are  due  to  the  unforeseen  action  of 
two  great  masters  to  whom  one  always  forgets  to  give  credit  :  "  Time 
and  varnish."  *  It  is  among  Englishmen  that  Delacroix,  to  be 
followed  by  Monet  and  Pissarro,  went  to  seek  their  ideas  for  the 
renovation  of  continental  art  by  colour,  or,  to  be  exact,  their  colour 
technique.  In  order  to  attain  it,  they  have  stretched  the  limits  of 
good  taste  and  gone  beyond  them,  with  the  result  of  sometimes  creating 
horrible  cacophonies.  But,  even  among  the  best  English  painters, 
there  exists,  in  that  direction,  fallings-off*  never  to  be  met  with  in 
the  works  of  good  continental  colourists.  Not  once  does  Rousseau 
imitate  one  of  Turner's  false  notes.  Less  great,  he  is  more  even. 
On  the  other  hand,  when  this  mad  striving  has  attained  its  object, 
when  the  colours,  each  one  of  which  taken  separately  is  glaring, 

*  Sir  John  Everett  Millais. 

o  xiii 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 
succeed,  being  equally  vivid  in  tone,  and  harmonising  in  their 
violence,  an  altogether  powerful  and  original  glare  is  the  result.  It 
is  man's  most  daring  attempt  to  enter  into  a  struggle  with  Nature, 
and  the  most  rugged  outburst  of  passion  which  has  ever  sprung  from 
the  human  heart.  The  result  is  TLnglish  Painting.  It  is  Ford 
Maddox  Brown,  Watts  and  Blake.  The  outcome  :  monstrosities 
and  transfigurations,  follies  and  miracles :  Turner. 
Turner  was  the  first  of  the  Impressionists,  and  after  a  lapse  of  eighty 
years  he  remains  the  greatest,  at  least  in  the  styles  he  has  treated. 
That  Impressionism  came  from  England  is  proved  by  the  letters  of 
Delacroix,  and  demonstrated  by  M.  Paul  Signac  in  his  pamphlet  on 
"  Neo-Impressionism "  ;  it  has  been  conclusively  established  by 
Mr.  Wynford  Dewhurst  in  The  Studio.  It  is  a  fact  which  the 
reader  of  Ruskin,  and  especially  of  his  "  Elements  of  Drawing," 
written  in  1856,  must  be  cognisant  of.  Turner  is  the  father  of 
the  Impressionists.  Their  discoveries  are  his.  He  first  saw  that 
Nature  is  composed  in  a  like  degree  of  colours  and  of  lines,  and,  in 
his  evolution,  the  rigid  and  settled  lines  of  his  early  method  gradually 
melt  away  and  vanish  in  the  colours.  He  sought  to  paint  the 
atmosphere,  the  envelopment  of  coloured  objects  seen  at  a  distance, 
rather  than  the  things  enveloped ;  and  he  quickly  realised  that  the 
atmosphere  could  not  be  expressed,  except  through  the  infinite 
parcelling  out  of  the  things  which  Claude  Lorrain  drew  in  a  solid 
grouping,  and  painted  en  bloc.  He  shredded  the  clouds.  He  took 
the  massive  and  admirable  masses,  the  cumuli  of  Ruysdael,  of 
Hobbema,  of  Van  de  Velde,  picked  the  threads  out  of  them,  and 
converted  them  into  a  myriad-shaded  charpie,  which  he  entrusted  to 
the  winds  of  heaven.  Between  the  glint  of  the  sun  and  -the  mirror- 
like reflections  of  the  waves,  palaces  lost  their  shape,  to  preserve 
only,  as  in  the  case  of  gems,  their  brilliant  sheen.  Henceforth,  ships 
possessed  a  motion  common  to  all,  or,  so  to  speak,  "  dorsal "  one. 
Colour  triumphed  over  line  disrupted  in  every  direction.  Turner's 
next  discovery  was  that  shade  is  a  colour  like  the  rest,  and  that  it  is 
not  necessary  to  represent  it  by  a  sombre  rendering  of  the  tone.  He 
was  led  to  this  when  contemplating  sea  effects,  where  light  bursts 
forth,  without,  however,  any  great  opposition  on  the  part  of  shade. 
There  is  very  little  shade  on  water,  or,  if  preferred,  there  is  so  much 
of  it,  and  so  little  of  it,  that  it  is  impossible  to  come  to  any 
definite  determination  of  it  as  exemplified  in  the  black  repoussoirs 
occupying  the  foreground  in  all  old  landscapes.  Gradually  did 
Turner  wipe  these  sets-ofF  from  his  canvases.  Perceiving  that 
Nature  could  produce  light,  without  having  recourse  to  sombre 
o  xiv 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

contrasts,  he,  imitating  her,  sought  to  dispense  with  them.  He 
evolved  from  the  luminous  effect  by  contrast,  that  is  to  say  from 
opposing  black  to  white,  to  the  effect  by  duplication,  i.e.,  by  coloured 
opposings.  Of  each  shade  he  made  a  quick  colour. 
That  is  not  all.  This  very  colour  which  he  brought  out  more 
strongly  by  contrast,  he  wished  it  more  live  than  any  one  before 
had  ever  made  it. 

With  this  object  in  view,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  laying  it  on  in 
its  entire  purity,  by  imperceptible  dots  or  lines,  dividing  the  same 
tone  into  an  infinity  of  diversations  juxtaposed  with  so  great  a  skill 
that,  however  glaring  they  may  be  when  viewed  at  close  range, 
blend  in  perfect  harmony  on  being  looked  at  from  a  certain  distance. 
'Tis  the  division  of  colour,  and  the  optical  blending. 
Here  we  have,  not  only  prophesied,  but  applied,  the  three  discoveries 
of  Impressionism  :  Nature,  rather  colours  than  lines  ;  shades  them- 
selves, colours  ;  colour  expressed  by  the  division  of  tone.  Thus 
does  Turner,  emanating  from  Claude,  become  the  founder  of  Im- 
pressionism. But,  he  absorbs  everything  :  his  predecessors  and  his 
successors.  He  dispenses  one  from  looking  at  Claude  Lorrain  and 
Claude  Monet.  "  He  has  gone  as  far  as  man  can  go,"  said  Gerard 
of  Delacroix.  "  He  is  a  man  who  walks  on  the  roofs."  Of  Turner 
it  can  be  said  that  he  leaned  over  the  precipice.  No  one  could 
lean  further  without  feeling  giddiness  and  falling  below.  To  see 
his  last  paintings,  his  desperate,  mad,  ferocious  striving  after  light, 
one  imagines  seeing  one  of  those  Alpinists,  whose  sad  fate  each  year 
chronicles,  who  have  fallen  into  a  chasm,  for  having  sought  to  gather 
some  rare  and  inaccessible  flower. 

On  the  point  of  closing  these  lines,  I  find  I  have  not  spoken  of  any 
painting  of  Turner's.  It  is  because  I  have  spoken  of  them  all,  and 
that,  in  the  case  of  a  genius  like  his,  it  is  impossible  to  make  a 
faithful  and  minute  transcription,  no  more  than  he  himself  made 
from  Nature  ;  one  may  merely  attempt  to  give  an  impression. 
Nevertheless,  if  one  is  to  select  a  work  as  being  central  and  typical 
of  his  life,  one  combining  the  most  accurate  observation,  and  the 
most  intense  creative  power,  I  would  say  :  go  and  see  the  Approach 
to  Venice,  with  its  sea  and  sky  of  infinite  depth,  its  background  or 
pale-green  light,  shining  betwixt  the  two  like  a  vegetal  astre,  sown 
with  blood-hued  spots,  its  crystalline  kiss  given  in  the  bosom  of  the 
delicate  haze  to  the  slumbering  waters  by  the  lips  of  sunset,  its 
gondolas  gliding  between  pellucid  waters,  with  their  red  cabins  and 
their  golden  ornaments,  from  Tusina  towards  Venice,  between  the 
phantoms  of  the  Giudecca.  All  the  benefactions  heaped  on  humanity 

o  xv 


THE  OIL-PAINTINGS  OF  TURNER 

by  Turner  are  there  to  be  found.  To  approach  Venice  is  to  approach 
the  city  without  streets,  without  vehicles,  noises  ;  the  city  of  museums 
resplendent  with  Carpaccio's  and  Tintoretto's  masterpieces,  of 
churches  brilliant  with  metallic  splendour,  of  sanctuaries  panelled 
with  gold  and  lit  up  with  mysterious  lamps,  and  of  palaces  suspended 
from  stone  lacework.  But  nothing  will  be  found  more  beautiful 
than  the  Approach  itselr.  No  robe  from  Tintoretto's  brush  will  be 
found  to  possess  the  splendour  of  the  gondolas  conveying  us.  No 
Titian — that  of  the  Mountains  of  Cadore,  the  presence  of  which  we 
divine,  no  nimbus  about  the  head  of  a  saint  will  equal  that  sun,  no 
purple  these  skies,  no  prayer  the  infinite  sweetness  of  the  dream 
experienced  during  those  brief,  delicious  moments.  Nothing  will 
be  found  to  compare  with  the  distant  vision  of  that  city  which,  on 
the  horizon,  seems  to  be  too  beautiful  ever  to  be  reached,  and 
appears  to  recede  from  the  traveller's  barque — 

Ainsi  que  Dele  sur  la  mer, 

gilded  like  youth,  silent  as  dreams,  and  like  happiness  unattainable. 
And  yet  Turner  is,  in  one  respect,  absolutely  realistic  :  in  his  skies. 
He  has  transformed  the  trees,  reconstructed  the  towns,  upset  rivers, 
arbitrarily  raised  or  demolished  mountains  ;  he  has  faithfully  repro- 
duced skies.  No  one  among  the  most  realistic  has  given  a  more 
correct  presentment  ot  them.  And  the  reason  is  that  heaven  is  the 
only  region  of  Nature  which  modern  man,  with  his  industrialism,  is 
unable  to  disturb  or  alter.  Landscape  painters,  who  for  fifty  years 
past  have  given  their  lives  to  love,  to  exalt  the  beauty  of  the  earth, 
its  fields,  coasts,  and  forests,  yearly  witness  the  disappearance  of  some 
beautiful  feature  they  have  worshipped.  The  following  words  apply 
to  a  certain  degree,  in  this  epoch  of  industrialism,  to  landscape- 
painters  :  "  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasure  on  earth,  where 
moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  break  through  and 
steal,  but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasure  in  Heaven.  Where  your 
treasure  lies,  there  will  your  heart  be  also."  There  was  Turner's 
aesthetic  treasure.  There  was  his  heart.  All  the  torches  which  have 
shed  a  flood  of  new  light  on  Art — that  of  Delacroix  in  1825,  those  of 
the  Impressionists  in  1870 — have  in  turn  been  lit  at  his  flame.  And  it 
is  his  flame  also  that  casts  a  light  over  the  most  humble  and  obscure 
who  open  their  eyes  on  Nature.  I  see  them  pass  by  in  the  twilight, 
between  the  Cevennes  and  the  Alps,  as  I  write  these  pages ;  and  the 
falling  shadows  warn  me  that  it  is  getting  late,  and  that  the  day 
consecrated  to  a  dream  has  come  to  its  close. 

Robert  de  la  Sizeranne. 

o  xvi 


O  1.  Oil- Painting,  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,  130U 


DOLBADERN  CASTLE,  NORTH  WAL: 


Given  to  the  Royal  Academy  as  the  Painter's  Diploma  Picture 


O  2.  Oil-Painting,  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,  1800 


THE  FIFTH  PLAGUE  OF  EGYPT 

In  the  Collection  of  Sir  Frederick  L.  Cook,  Bart.,  M.P. 


O  3.  Oil-Pamting,  1805 ;  in  the  National  Gallery,  London 


THE  SHIPWRECK  Reproduced  from  a  Photograph  by  the  Autotype  Co.,  New  Oxford  St. 


O  i.  Oil-Painting,  about  1302 


THE  DEATH  OF  NELSON,  OCTOBER  21,  1805 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


O  8.  Oil-Pamtmg,  1306 


0  9.  Oil-Painting,  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,  1815 


DIDO  BUILDING  CARTHAGE 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


0  10.  Oil -Painting  m  the  National  Gallery,  London;  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,' 1315 


CROSSING  THE  BROOK 


Reproduced  from  a  Photograph  by  the  Autotype  Co.,  New  Oxford  St.,  London 


O  14.  Oil-Pamtmg',  1809 


LONDON,  FROM  GREENWICH 


HHP** 

:  National  Gallery,  London 


0  15.  Oil-Pamtmg  in  the  National  Gallery,  London;  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,  1333 


VENICE:  CANALETTI  PAINTING  Reproduced  from  a  Photograph  by  the  Autotype  Co.,  New  Oxford  St.,  London 


016.  Oil-Pamtmg  in  the  National  Gallery,  London;  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,  1832 


O  17.  Oil-Famting  m  the  National  Galleiy,  London  ;  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,  1639 


AGRIPPINA  LANDING  WITH  THE  ASHES  OF  GERMANICUS        Reproduced  from  a  Photograph  by  the  Autotype  Co. 


O  13.  Oil-Painting 


0  13.  Oil-Painting  m  the  National  Gallery,  London;  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,  lS3y 


THE  FIGHTING  "  TEMERAIRE  ' 


Reproduced  from  a  Photograph  by  the  Autotype  Co.,  New  Oxford  St.,  London 


O  22.  Cil-Painting,  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,  ISjO 


MERCURY  SENT  TO  ADMONISH  JENEAS  In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


0  23.  Oil-Pamting  in  the  "National  Gallery,  London;  Exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy,  1S44 


RAIN,  STEAM,  AND  SPEED— THE  GREAT  WESTERN  RAILWAY 


From  a  Photograph  by  the  Autotype  Co. 


PORTRAIT  OP  J.  M.  W.  TCJRNER,  R.A. 


TURNER'S  MONOCHROMES 
AND  EARLY  WATER-COLOURS 


HE  design  of  this  short  article  is  to 
few  hints  that  may  serve  to  guide 
students    to    some    knowledge  of 


give  a 
young 
Turner's 


monochromes  and  early  water-colours.  The 
first  words  of  advice  that  one  feels  called 
upon  to  give  are  words  of  caution.  The 
young  student,  before  he  begins  to  work, 
must  take  to  heart  the  fact  that  the  genius  of 
Turner  has  two  kinds  of  difficulties  :  namely, 
those  proper  to  its  wondrous  complexity,  and  those  which  have 
been  imposed  upon  it  by  writers  who  have  made  it  a  theme  of 
perfervid  prose.  Indeed,  when  one  thinks  of  the  literary  ecstasies 
awakened  by  Turner's  greatness,  one  cannot  but  marvel  at  the 
uncritical  bias  of  mind  that  intrudes  into  the  painter's  domain  of 
art  the  emotions  belonging  to  literature.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  Turner,  in  his  declining  years,  after  a  long  life  of  struggle  and 
success,  fell  under  two  bad  influences  ;  the  one  was  found  in  the 
gibes  and  jokes  of  Punch  and  the  readers  of  Punch,  the  other  made 
itself  widely  popular  in  the  poetical  transports  of  Ruskin's  genius  as 
a  man  of  letters.  The  first  of  these  two  influences  hurt  Turner's 
feelings,  while  the  second  harmed  him  as  a  painter  by  importing  into 
pictorial  criticism  an  excess  of  literary  sentiment  against  which 
there  would  certainly  be  a  reaction.  It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that 
Ruskin's  extraordinary  command  over  moving  words  produced  a 
literary  atmosphere  that  settled  itself  between  Turner's  pictures  and 
those  who  wished  to  study  them.  Any  one  who  was  touched  by 
Ruskin's  glamour  of  phrase  imagined  that  he,  or  she,  understood 
and  appreciated  Turner  himself ;  whereas  the  psychological  response 
was  made  not  to  the  art  of  Turner,  but  to  the  emotion  of  the  man 
of  letters.  And  thus  it  became  recognised  at  last,  among  good  judges 
of  art,  that  the  most  eloquent  passages  in  Ruskin  mistook  poetical 
descriptions  for  art  criticism  and  appealing  fancies  for  proven  facts. 
In  other  words,  Ruskin  made  poems  out  of  Turner,  just  as  Turner 
made  poems  out  of  nature  ;  and  there  was  and  is  little  actual  relation 
between  the  poems  and  their  titles.  The  Venice  of  reality  and 
Turner's  Venice  are  known  to  be  different  ;  but  the  distinction 
between  them  is  not  more  marked,  nor  less  transformed  by  tempera- 
ment and  imagination,  than  the  contrast  existing  between  certain 

m  w  i 


TURNER'S  MONOCHROMES  AND 

phases  of  Turner's  greatness  and  the  literary  descriptions  of  them 
that  Ruskin  invented  and  popularised.  Remember,  then,  that 
Ruskin  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  an  artist  in  words,  always  fascinated 
by  the  beauty  of  his  language  and  always  anxious  to  make  an  effect 
in  his  own  craftsmanship.  Had  he  felt  Turner's  art  as  art — felt  it, 
that  is  to  say,  with  all  the  intensity  he  laid  claim  to — he  would  not 
have  written  about  it  with  such  a  flood  of  words.  For  the  strongest 
emotions  of  an  aesthetic  kind  incline  men  to  be  silent  rather  than 
eloquent.  This  is  why  painters  themselves  express  their  criticisms 
in  brief  sentences  and  frequently  in  single  words.  Ruskin,  to  be 
sure,  was  in  love  with  his  subject  ;  but  he  rose  from  his  knees  before 
the  adored  one,  and  then  wrote  his  poems.  All  this  applies  not  to 
the  brief  critical  notes  that  Ruskin  penned  at  times  in  a  free-and-easy 
unpretentious  manner,  but  to  all  those  parts  of  his  works  wherein 
the  fervour  and  the  beauty  of  his  language  have  won  for  him,  quite 
unjustly,  a  commanding  influence  as  an  art  critic. 
It  was  necessary  to  speak  thus  frankly  of  the  influence  of  Ruskin, 
for  we  owe  to  it,  or  rather  to  a  reaction  against  it,  the  indifference 
existing  in  many  quarters  to  the  art  of  Turner.  Hot  fits  are  followed 
by  cold,  and  at  the  present  time  Turner  is  not  studied  in  the  way 
that  he  deserves  to  be.  Many  a  student  feels  that  the  great 
landscape-painter  cannot  be  grasped  without  much  puzzling  of  the 
brain  over  problems  of  ethics,  copybook  maxims  and  morals,  and  all 
the  other  shreds  and  patches  of  esoteric  claptrap  with  which  so  many 
writers  on  Turner  have  bedecked  their  critical  faculties.  But  let  the 
student  take  heart  of  grace.  Turner  was  not  a  moralist  nor  a  man  or 
letters.  He  was  a  great  master  of  the  brush,  and  as  such  he  may  be 
studied  with  only  that  degree  of  difficulty  which  gives  zest  to  work. 
For  my  own  part,  I  do  not  feel  in  the  least  inclined  to  let  loose  even 
one  sky-rocket  of  eloquence.  The  genius  of  Turner  is  so  slow  in  its 
development,  and  so  prolific  and  resourceful  in  technical  methods,, 
that  one  finds  it  hard  enough  to  state  at  all  clearly  the  points  of  interest 
that  appeal  first  of  all  to  any  one  who  is  curious  about  style. 
The  monochromes  and  the  early  water-colours  are  bracketed  together 
in  this  section  of  the  present  volume,  partly  because  the  early  water- 
colours  have  much  in  common  with  studies  in  gradations  of  one 
colour,  and  partly  because  the  art  of  Turner  was  built  up  on  the 
knowledge  acquired  by  constant  sketching  with  the  point,  and  with 
simple  washes  of  colour  over  a  point-drawing.  It  is  well  known,, 
or  ought  to  be,  that  Turner's  studies  from  nature  very  rarely  took  the 
form  of  elaborate  sketches  in  oil-colour  ;  and  there  seems  to  be  no 
doubt  that  even  his  outdoor  practice  in  water-colour  was  seldom 
m  w  ii 


EARLY  WATER-COLOURS 

carried  beyond  the  stage  of  memoranda.    The  multitudes  of  sketches 
in  the  National  Gallery  are  for  the  most  part  of  a  slight  allusive 
nature,  showing  that  Turner  had  no  other  wish  than  to  be  useful 
to  himself  when  painting  in  his  studio.    He  had  no  thought  of  the 
critics,  no  thought  of  the  public,  when  he  went  alone  on  his 
wanderings  and  noted,  with  a  rapidity  that  seems  quite  miraculous, 
those  essential  things  of  art  that  nature  revealed  to  him  in  her  storms, 
in  her  hills,  mountains,  and  valleys,  in  the  sea,  and,  again,  in  the 
chromatic  splendours  of  the  sun's  action  upon  colours  out  of  doors. 
The  student,  then,  should  remember  this  private  and  confidential 
character  of  Turner's  sketches  in  black  and  white.    I  myself  have  a 
feeling  of  shyness  when  I  study  them,  as  though  I  were  prying  into 
the  painter's  diary.    With  Cotman,  on  the  other  hand,  one  is  at 
home  immediately,  for  one  sees  that  his  sketching  work  had  ever  the 
ulterior  purpose  of  a  work  of  art.    It  was  not  intended  for  Cotman's 
use  alone,  but  was  made  complete,  so  that  it  entered  forthwith  into 
the  public  domain  of  the  world's  art  treasures.    As  a  consequence, 
we  should  not  draw  any  comparison  between  the  different  aims  that 
Turner  and  Cotman  had  in  view  in  their  monochromes.  Turner's 
wonderful  set  of  brown  drawings  for  Liber  Studiorum  were  not  only 
made  as  guides  for  the  engravers  ;  they  were  turned  out  more  or  less 
in  haste,  for  Turner  knew  that  the  etching  was  to  be  done  by  himself, 
and  that  the  actual  engraving  would  be  carried  out  either  by  his  own 
hand  or  else  under  his  vigilant  supervision.    He  could  thus  afford  to 
indicate  what  he  wanted  without  producing  a  design  completely 
finished  in  all  its  parts.     Very  different  was  the  aim  of  Cotman  when 
he  conceived  and  brought  to  completion  such   lyrical    and  wise 
drawings  as  Breaking  the  Clod  and  The  Shadowed  Stream. 
The  brown  studies  for  Liber  Studiorum  are  illustrated  here  by  five 
plates.  There  is  Holy  Island  Cathedral  (m  w  28)  with  its  fine  simplicity, 
with  the  upward  growth  and  spring  of  its  graceful  masonry,  and  with 
its  intermingling  of  Saxon  and  Norman  characteristics.    The  illus- 
tration of  Macon — a  subject  not  engraved  in  Turner's  life,  but  since 
translated  by  Mr.  Frank  Short — is  a  sketch  composition  of  great 
attractiveness  ;  and  one  remarks  in  it  a  trait  of  frequent  occurrence 
in  Turner,  namely,  the  unequal  manner  in  which  the  artist  dwells 
on  the  different  parts  of  a  sketch  design.    The  trees  on  the  right 
and   the  distant  bridge  were  the   points  he  lingered   over  and 
brought  most  closely  to  the  effect  which  he  would  aim  at  in  the 
engraving.    The  Grande  Chartreuse,  with  its  noble  seriousness,  and 
the  Sportsmen   in  a   Wood,  with  its  fanciful  lightness  and  rather 
scattered  gracefulness,  speak  clearly  for  themselves  ;   but  one  may 

M  w  iii 


TURNER'S  MONOCHROMES  AND 

draw  particular  attention  to  the  feathery  character  of  the  pen- 
draughtsmanship  in  the  second  composition. 

Despite  the  foolish  and  stubborn  old  belief  that  pictures  in  water- 
colour  are  of  less  artistic  value  than  oil-paintings,  it  is  still  recognised 
by  many  that  water-colour  was  Turner's  favourite  medium,  and  that 
his  genius  lives  in  it  more  vividly  than  it  does  in  most  of  his  oil- 
paintings.  These  latter  have  suffered  much  from  neglect  and  much 
from  the  careless  manner  in  which  Turner  made  use  of  unsafe  pig- 
ments and  methods  of  execution.  For  the  sake  of  a  transitory 
brilliance  of  tone  and  colour  he  condemned  many  of  his  later 
pictures  to  a  downgoing  career.  In  water-colour,  on  the  contrary, 
he  was  always  careful  and  fastidious,  sparing  neither  time  nor 
pains  to  produce  in  a  loving  manner  the  best  results  that  his  materials 
would  give  him.  And  these  results  have  endured  with  but  little 
change,  except  in  those  drawings  which  have  been  exposed  to  damp 
or  to  a  light  too  strong  for  their  exceeding  delicacy.  This  is  one 
reason  why  the  student  of  Turner  should  be  unsparing  in  the  attention 
he  pays  to  the  master's  water-colours.  Not  that  this  reason  is  the 
only  one.  Turner's  final  aims  in  oil-painting  were  suggested  by  the 
special  genius  of  water-colour — that  genius  which  renders  water- 
colour  so  responsive  to  the  mysteries  of  atmosphere  and  of  the  sun's 
light.  And  one  other  point  is  worth  recalling  here.  In  Turner's 
drawings  we  may  follow  the  whole  evolution  of  English  water-colour, 
beginning  with  the  early  stained  manner  that  he  inherited  from 
Sandby,  Rooker,  Hearne,  Dayes,  and  J.  R.  Cozens.  After  this  stained 
manner  in  neutral  tints  we  come  to  a  style  based  on  Girtin's,  and  we 
soon  meet  with  such  still-life  pictures  of  birds  and  fish  as  William 
Hunt  himself  could  not  have  excelled  ;  until  at  last,  after  many  other 
changes  and  transformations,  Turner's  genius  brings  us  to  those 
wonderful  fantasies  of  Venetian  radiance  that  carry  impressionism  to 
the  highest  point  it  has  yet  reached  in  water-colour  painting.  Mr. 
Brabazon  has  given  us  some  fine  Turner-like  impressions,  but  he 
would  be  the  first  to  lift  his  hat  to  the  great  discoverer  of  that  realm 
of  colour  and  light  in  which  his  own  gifts  have  found  something  new 
and  delightful  to  record. 

As  Turner's  art  in  water-colour  is  so  varied  in  its  appeal,  it  has  been 
deemed  necessary  to  illustrate  its  changes  in  an  abundant  manner  ; 
and  we  cannot  do  better  than  turn  to  the  reproductions  in  half-tone, 
so  that  we  may  be  able  to  follow  the  first  stages  of  its  progress. 
The  first  illustration,  representing  Holly  Bridge  and  Bacon  s  Tower, 
was  drawn  from  an  engraving  in  Turner's  twelfth  year,  and  tinted 
with  an  ease  and  assurance  very  rare  in  a  boy  so  young.  There 
m  w  iv 


EARLY  WATER-COLOURS 

is  atmosphere  in  the  sky,  and  a  really  remarkable  feeling  for 
the  soft  cloud-forms  that  the  English  sky  often  gives  after  a 
fall  of  rain.  The  buildings,  too,  though  somewhat  prim  in  the 
rendering  of  the  details,  stand  upright  and  show  us  already  that 
Turner's  delight  in  "  the  frozen  music  of  architecture  "  did  not  first 
come  to  him  in  the  office  of  his  good  friend  Mr.  Hardwick, 
who  received  him  as  a  pupil  about  two  years  later — probably 
in  1789.  Remark,  also,  that  the  boy  Turner,  in  his  choice 
of  this  subject,  forecast  his  future  in  water-colour  with  the 
motives  of  composition  that  appealed  to  him  most  strongly 
in  after  years.  When  did  he  cease  to  love  bridges  and  towers, 
or  boats  filled  with  animated  figures,  or  water  with  the  delight- 
fully subtle  problems  of  its  reflections  and  its  surface  play  ? 
The  tower,  in  this  early  drawing,  is  somewhat  dwarfed  by 
the  ugly  cottage  on  the  left,  and  this  error  in  the  composition 
is  rendered  more  emphatic  by  the  boat  which  brings  the  cottage 
more  prominently  to  the  eye.  Yet  one  feels  none  the  less  that 
the  tower  was  the  main  point  of  interest  to  the  boy's  sympathies, 
and  the  easy  way  in  which  it  is  made  to  unite  in  composition  with 
the  bridge  proves  very  clearly  that  Turner,  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
fully  grasped  the  principal  artistic  merits  of  the  engravings 
from  which  he  worked.  One  last  point  may  be  dwelt  upon 
for  a  second.  The  reflection  of  the  sailing-boat  is  done  with 
skill  and  tenderness  :  it  shows  already  a  personal  observation 
similar  to  that  which,  in  or  about  the  same  year,  caused 
him  to  mirror  the  sky  in  the  window-panes  of  the  finished 
drawings  that  he  made  for  architects.  One  architect,  Mr.  Dobson 
by  name,  objected  to  this  truthful  touch  of  observation,  and 
told  Turner  that  the  window-bars  must  be  painted  white  and 
the  panes  dark  grey.  "  It  will  spoil  my  drawing,"  Turner 
replied.  "  Rather  that  than  my  art,"  said  the  architect.  The 
lad  complied,  and  then  left  Mr.  Dobson. 

The  Alpine  landscape,  in  the  second  illustration,  marks  a  whole 
stage  of  transition  in  Turner's  youthful  attitude  to  art.  He 
works  here  under  the  guidance  of  J.  R.  Cozens,  that  great 
master  of  the  neutral  style  in  water-colour  who  first  discovered 
to  his  countrymen  the  sweet  dignity  and  mystery  that  art  could 
find  in  mountain  scenery.  Constable,  it  is  said,  regarded  Cozens 
as  the  greatest  genius  that  ever  touched  landscape — an  excess 
of  ardour,  no  doubt,  but  yet  sufficiently  truthful  to  account 
for  the  ascendency  of  Cozens  over  Turner's  impressionable  mind. 
It  is  not  quite  certain  in  what  year  he  began  to  exercise  himself 

M  W  V 


TURNER'S  MONOCHROMES  AND 
in  Cozens'  manner ;  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  it  was  in 
1793,  tne  vear  m  which  he  joined  the  famous  drawing- 
class  held  by  Dr.  Monro  in  his  house  in  the  Adelphi  Terrace. 
This  illustration  may  be  looked  upon,  I  think,  as  among  the 
first  of  Turner's  efforts  to  get  at  the  secrets  of  style  in  the 
work  of  his  great  contemporary  ;  for  there  is  a  want  of  grasp 
in  the  technical  methods,  and  the  lines  formed  by  the  hills 
are  not  such  as  the  eye  of  Cozens  would  have  tolerated.  Viewed 
alone,  they  are  not  lacking  in  delicacy  ;  but  when  considered 
in  relation  to  the  sky  and  the  hills  beyond,  the  form  they 
make  is  too  much  like  that  of  a  bowl  to  be  pleasant.  Very 
much  better  from  every  standpoint  is  the  lovely  drawing  of 
Tintern  Abbey,  produced  in  the  same  year  (1793)  and  represented 
in  the  third  illustration.  This  graceful  and  rhythmical  piece 
of  architecture  cannot  be  studied  with  too  much  attention.  It 
owes  much,  doubtless,  to  the  knowledge  which  Turner  acquired 
from  Sandby  and  from  Hearne  ;  but  in  spite  of  that  it  has  a 
mingling  of  strength  and  elegance  which  belongs  to  Turner 
himself,  and  not  to  any  one  whose  art  he  invaded  and  conquered. 
Now  there  is  no  surer  test  of  a  young  painter's  strength 
than  his  structural  rendering  of  a  great  pile  of  masonry.  When 
one  looks  at  the  architecture  drawn  by  the  average  artist  one 
says  to  one's  self,  "  This  fellow  started  his  work  with  the  weather- 
cock, and  grew  so  tired  before  he  reached  the  ground  that  his 
building  lost  bulk  and  substance  the  nearer  it  came  to  its  founda- 
tions." With  Turner,  on  the  other  hand,  every  mass  of  stone- 
work has  a  downward  pressure,  and  rests  securely  on  its  basis. 
Indeed,  Turner's  architecture  seems  to  be  built  rather  than  drawn, 
and  its  grace  is  all  the  more  irresistible  because  the  eye  feels  that, 
like  Antaeus,  it  gains  in  strength  and  majesty  from  the  closeness 
of  its  contact  with  the  earth. 

The  student  should  take  note  of  this  characteristic  of  Turner's 
architecture,  and  should  follow  its  development  in  such  wonderful 
drawings  as  the  famous  Interior  of  Ely  Cathedral ;  or,  again,  in  the 
admirable  view  of  Lincoln,  bearing  the  date  1795,  which  may  be 
examined  in  the  fourth  reproduction.  De  Wint,  in  his  prime, 
painted  the  same  great  cathedral  from  pretty  nearly  the  same 
place  ;  but  his  large  water-colour,  now  at  South  Kensington,  has 
masonry  of  tinted  pasteboard,  and  is  much  less  interesting  in 
other  respects  than  Turner's  work  at  the  age  of  twenty.  It  is 
not  generally  known  that  Turner's  early  passion  for  architecture 
showed  itself  in  some  interiors  of  a  humble  kind,  and  in  the  fifth 
m  w  vi 


EARLY  WATER-COLOURS 

illustration  may  be  seen  an  exquisitely  finished  study  of  the 
underground  kitchen  in  Maiden  Lane,  where  an  old  woman,  said 
to  be  Turner's  mother,  sits  crooning  over  a  fire,  surrounded  with 
an  orderly  disorder  of  household  things.  It  is  a  little  picture,  as 
fine  in  handling  as  a  work  by  Steenwick,  but  nobler  in  its  homeliness 
and  gentle  pathos.  The  actual  workmanship,  though  rubbed  by 
years  of  wear  and  tear,  is  still  full  of  those  qualities,  or  endless 
subtleties  of  variation,  known  among  artists  as  "  infinity."  The 
light  and  shade  are  managed  with  consummate  skill,  and  the 
treatment  of  the  still-life  objects  could  not  well  be  bettered. 
Contrast  this  little  piece  with  the  waterfall  on  the  same  page, 
so  that  the  difference  between  them  may  keep  your  mind  alert 
to  the  variousness  of  Turner's  sympathy  and  observation. 
On  the  next  page,  in  the  reproduction  of  Warkvuorth  Castle,  painted 
in  1799,  a  new  Turner  manifests  himselt — a  Turner  strongly  under 
the  influence  of  his  friend  and  leader,  Tom  Girtin,  and  yet  giving  us 
a  foretaste  of  that  intricate  design  and  that  pageantry  of  storm  effects 
which  in  later  years  made  him  a  true  dramatist  in  the  interpretation  of 
natural  phenomena.  Any  one  who  forgets  how  strong  the  drama- 
tising instinct  was  in  Turner  cannot  fail  to  stumble  into  many  errors 
of  criticism.  But  the  Warkworth  Castle  is  noteworthy  for  something 
other  than  the  sombre  design,  and  the  movement  of  the  storm-clouds 
gathering  behind  the  castle.  The  colouring  is  Girtinesque  ;  the 
neutral  greys  of  the  earlier  years  have  passed  away  ;  there  is  an  effort 
here  to  get  depth  in  the  shadows,  richness  in  the  half-tones,  and  a 
technical  power  and  freedom  equal  to  those  in  oil-painting.  After 
this  energetic  and  thoughtful  drawing,  it  is  a  disappointment  to 
look  at  the  two  Scotch  studies  in  pencil  on  warm  buff"  paper,  where 
the  painter's  striving  after  a  simple  dignity  and  strength  meets  with 
a  failure.  Whether  he  was  over-awed  by  the  Scotch  hills  and 
valleys,  or  whether  he  was  out  of  health,  I  do  not  know  ;  but 
for  some  reason  or  other  this  series  of  drawings  must  be  looked  upon 
as  bald  and  unworthy  of  Turner.  But  if  he  failed  in  Scotland  in 
1800-01,  he  recovered  his  mastery  of  the  point  when,  two  years  later,, 
he  made  his  first  Continental  tour,  and  achieved  that  wonderful 
set  of  studies  in  Savoy  and  Piedmont  which  is  treasured  to-day 
in  the  National  Gallery.  These  are  studies  that  move  one 
like  solemn  music,  and  would  that  full  justice  could  be  done  to 
them  in  reduced  reproductions.  They  are  of  two  kinds,  and  the 
student  will  find  that  those  drawn  with  the  point  arc  as  fascinating 
and  as  instructive  as  the  boldly  handled  water-colours.  The 
former  are  described  by  Ruskin  as  being  sketched  with  very 

m  w  vii 


TURNER'S  MONOCHROMES  AND  EARLY  WATER-COLOURS 

black  soft  pencil  on  dark  paper,  then  touched  with  white  ;  but 
it  is  more  correct  to  say  that  the  paper  is  a  dirty  buff,  and  that 
the  actual  workmanship  is  a  mixture  of  black  chalk  and  lead 
pencil.  The  lead  pencil  is  used  to  give  a  grey  tone  to  the  black 
chalk  ;  the  high  lights  are  put  in  with  a  brush  and  body- 
white  ;  the  technique,  then,  is  exceptional  and  worth  describing 
accurately.  One  characteristic  of  the  sketches  and  of  all  Turner's 
work  with  the  point  may  be  observed  in  the  rarity  of  diagonal 
lines  running  from  right  to  left.  Such  lines  are  the  most 
natural  in  shading  ;  but  Turner  certainly  used  them  much  less 
frequently  than  other  men.  And  this  is  noted  here,  not  merely 
because  it  is  technically  interesting,  but  because  Turner's  execu- 
tion was  determined  by  the  immediate  effect  which  he  wished  to 
indicate  when  rapidly  building  up  his  composition.  I  do  not 
think  that  any  of  these  drawings  were  done  face  to  face  with 
nature.  They  were  carried  out  most  probably  from  rapid  pencil 
notes  when  Turner  went  back  to  his  inn. 

As  to  the  Alpine  sketches  in  water-colour,  they  must  be  seen  to  be 
appreciated.  Descriptions  are  quite  useless.  But  one  may  recall 
the  fact  that  they  became  the  material  out  of  which  Turner 
composed  some  of  his  most  famous  water-colours,  like  the  Falls  of 
Reichenbach  (1804),  The  Devil's  Bridge  (1804),  Chamonix,  Mer  de 
Glace  (1804),  of  which  noble  drawings  excellent  half-tone  blocks 
are  given  in  this  section.  Having  now  reached  the  summit  of 
Turner's  early  career  as  a  water-colour  painter,  we  may  single  out 
Cliamomx,  Mer  de  Glace,  as  the  finest  achievement  of  them  all.  The 
complexity  of  design  in  the  ranges  of  mountains  is  shadowed  forth 
with  a  perfect  mastery  ;  and  the  desolate  majesty  of  the  whole 
composition  is  sweetened  and  made  homely  by  the  tender  gentleness 
of  the  goats.  Turner  will  pass  on  presently  to  other  delightful  styles, 
yet  his  best  admirers  may  turn  with  an  ever-increasing  pleasure  to 
the  water-colours  painted  by  him  during  and  immediately  after  his 
first  Continental  journey.  And  the  reason  of  this  is  not  wholly  due 
to  the  immense  impression  made  upon  him  by  his  first  acquaintance 
with  the  grandeur  of  the  Alps.  In  the  vast  solitudes  of  those 
mountains  he  recalled  the  great  manner  of  his  friend  Girtin,  and  he 
used  in  his  own  way  the  knowledge  of  breadth  which  Girtin's  art 
had  taught  him.  Girtin  himself  was  dead,  but  his  spirit  came  to  life 
again  in  the  Alps,  and  achieved  a  new  greatness  in  the  work  of  Turner. 

Walter  Shaw  Sparrow. 


MW.  1.  Water-Colour,  1737,  Turner's  Twelfth  Year 


FOLLY  BRIDGE  AND  BACON'S  TOWER,  OXFORD  In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


MW  2.  Water-Colour,  about  1793 ;  Manner  of  J.  R.  Cozens 


ALPINE  LANDSCAPE 


In  the  Collection  of  Gerald  Robins 


MW.  5.  Water-Colour,  about  1795-96 


A  WATERFALL 


In  South  Kensington  Museum 


MW  7.  Water-Colour,  179a 


Bodv-Wh 


rm  Buff  Paper,  13C0-1 


PASS  OF  GLENCOE  (?)  In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


MW9.  Lead  Pencil  and  Body- White  on  Warm  Buff  Paper,  1800-1 


STUDY  OF  A  SWAN 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


MW  23.  Water- Colour,  1304;  from  the  Mackenzie  Collection 


MW  25.  Lead  Pencil  on  Grey-White  Paper,  18 


ROME :  STONE  PINES  ON  MONTE  MARIO  In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


MW26.  Lead  Pencil  and  Black  Chalk,  with  Body-White,  Cold  Buff-Grey  Paper,  1302-3 


GRENOBLE,  WITH  MONT  BLANC  In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


Water-Colour  Sketch,  1302-3 


ABOVE  AMSTEG,  ON  THE  PASS  OP  ST.  GOTH  A  LID  In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


MW23.  Sepia  Design  for  "Liber  Studiorum,"  1307-19 


HOLY- ISLAND  CATHEDRAL 


In- the  National  Gallery,  London 


M\V  33.  Lead  Pencil  Sketch,  1819-26 


THE  COLOSSEUM,  ROME  In  the  National 


MW  34.  Lead  Pencil  Sketcl 


SHEEP 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


THE  LATER  WATER-COLOURS 


HEN  Girtin  and  Turner  enfranchised  the  art 
of  English  water-colour  they  set  it  free  from 
its  humble  apprenticeship  to  the  business  of 
topographical  engraving,  and  enabled  it  to  find 
stimulus  and  independence  amid  the  mysteries 
of  external  nature.  It  then  became  a  not 
unworthy  rival  of  oil-painting. 
The  statement  of  this  fact  is  not  intended  to 
convey  any  disparagement  of  the  work  done 
by  Turner  and  his  fellows  in  the  neutral- 
tinted  manner  which  the  engravers  found  most  useful  for  translation 
into  tones  of  black  and  white.  It  is  indeed  customary  to  write 
of  that  tinted  manner  in  a  strain  of  apology,  though  Turner  owed  to 
it  many  qualities  both  of  brush-work  and  of  draughtsmanship.  His 
thorough  training  in  the  use  of  grey  tints  taught  him  to  handle  his 
brush  with  ease,  and  to  fix  his  whole  attention  upon  the  actual 
drawing  of  the  thing  before  him,  undisturbed  by  those  difficulties 
which  would  have  been  forced  upon  him  by  an  attempt  to  imitate 
with  fine  precision  all  the  combinations  of  tone  and  colour  presented 
by  a  series  of  objects.  The  results,  in  the  strong  young  hands  of 
Turner,  were  often  so  restful  and  so  charming  that  they  seemed 
beyond  criticism,  like  the  simple  ballads  of  a  song-loving  people. 
Even  to  "day,  after  more  than  a  hundred  years  of  Time's  ill-usage, 
the  best  of  them  are  among  the  kindest  friends  that  a  collector  can 
gather  around  him.  Friends  they  really  are,  because  they  persuade 
one  to  be  entirely  satisfied  with  what  they  have  to  give.  It  is 
not  till  we  come  to  the  style  based  on  Girtin's  and  to  the  work 
engendered  by  the  first  Continental  tour  that  Turner  invades  criticism 
like  a  conqueror.  A  time  of  transition  now  begins,  and  thence- 
forward to  the  final  decadence  of  his  genius  the  history  of  the 
master's  water-colour  is  a  glorious  thing,  in  which  beauty  and 
blemish  are  found  often  side  by  side.  Turner  never  drifted  into  a 
groove  of  settled  excellence,  but  preferred  to  attack  new  dangers  in 
order  that  he  might  recreate  his  art  with  fresh  discoveries. 
The  period  of  transition  marks  his  growth  from  a  draughtsman  in 
water-colour  into  a  painter  in  that  medium  ;  and  the  change  in 
question  not  only  closes  the  first  stages  of  Turner's  progress,  but 
leads  the  mind  onward  into  the  latter-day  transformations  of  his 
aims.  In  other  words,  the  emotions  called  forth  by  his  first  acquaint- 
ance with  the  Alps  did  not  pass  away  all  at  once,  but  kept  on 

w  i 


TURNER'S  LATER  WATER-COLOURS 

returning  to  him  during  a  long  course  of  years  whenever  a  subject 
wholly  congenial  to  them  took  firm  hold  of  his  mind.  There  is 
thus  a  retrospective  character  in  some  of  Turner's  later  pictures  ;  and 
it  seems  to  belong  to  the  first  four  years  of  the  nineteenth  century 
rather  than  to  the  actual  time  of  its  reappearance  in  the  painter's 
work.  All  artists  are  subject,  from  time  to  time,  to  similar  revivals 
of  their  youth  in  their  assthetical  feelings  ;  and  in  Turner's  case  this 
trait  may  be  studied  in  some  admirable  water-paintings,  particularly 
in  several  of  those  in  the  Farnley  Hall  collection.  By  way  ot 
example,  the  reader  may  turn  to  the  plates  representing  Lancaster 
Sands  (W  8),  Sooneck  and  Bacharach  (W  10),  and  J onannisberg  (W  1 1). 
These  pictures  were  all  brought  to  completion  between  the  years 
1820  and  1824,  and  are  thus  twenty  years  older  than  the  first  Alpine 
studies,  with  which  they  harmonise  in  the  import  or  their  emotional 
significance.  One  cannot  say  that  the  harmony  is  extended  to  all  the 
qualities  of  technique,  but  their  inner  essence  and  life — their  psycho- 
logy, in  a  word — belongs  to  the  aestheticism  of  his  first  trip  abroad. 
It  has  been  asked,  sometimes  with  surprise,  why  Turner  departed  at 
all  from  the  sombre  and  energetic  style  that  he  brought  home  with 
him  from  Savoy  and  Piedmont.  It  is  a  question  worth  asking, 
though  the  answer  to  it  is  not  far  to  seek.  Turner  must  have  seen, 
even  before  he  left  England,  that  the  style  originated  by  Girtin  was 
soon  carried  beyond  the  limits  of  water-colour  and  usurped  qualities 
which  could  be  rendered  with  better  success  in  oil-painting.  Girtin 
himself,  in  his  majestic  picture  of  Bridgnorth  (1802),  had  stretched  to 
the  full  all  the  resources  of  his  own  style,  and  Turner,  too,  long 
before  his  Battle  of  Fort  Rock,  painted  in  1815,  had  reached  the 
extreme  boundary  separating  strength  in  water-colour  from  the  same 
quality  in  oil-painting.  The  Battle  of  Fort  Ityck  may  be  studied  in 
the  basement  of  the  National  Gallery.  It  is  a  picture  of  quite 
astounding  vigour,  and  a  student  of  Turner's  technical  methods 
should  examine  it  inch  by  inch  with  the  utmost  care.  Every 
conceivable  means  is  employed  to  force  the  medium  to  do  the  work 
of  oil-colours.  As  the  eye  travels  over  the  picture's  surface  an 
observer  notes  that  the  paper  has  been  washed,  sponged,  rubbed 
with  a  blunt-pointed  instrument,  cut  sharply  with  a  knife,  and  treated 
in  several  other  technical  ways  that  helped  Turner  to  get  vigour  and 
variety  in  the  treatment  of  his  textures.  The  result  of  it  all  is  a 
most  instructive  lesson  in  the  painter's  mastery  over  processes  of 
technique  ;  but  the  painter  himself  must  have  known  that  in  this 
style  he  had  left  nothing  new  to  achieve.  It  is  not  wonderful, 
therefore,  that  he  began  to  reconsider  the  special  graces  of  water- 
w  ii 


TURNER'S  LATER  WATER-COLOURS 

colour,  and  turned  his  attention  from  majesty  and  strength  to  the 
more  delicate  and  subtle  capabilities  of  his  materials.  In  the  future 
his  art  would  deal  with  problems  of  atmosphere,  with  the  ever- 
changing  pageantry  of  the  sky  from  dawn  to  moonlight,  and  with  an 
abundance  of  details  that  required  infinite  lightness  of  touch  and 
sensitiveness  of  feeling.  In  thinking  of  all  this  the  mind  is  staggered 
by  the  vast  multitudes  of  sketches  and  of  finished  pictures  that  belong 
to  the  later  expression  of  Turnerian  poetry  in  the  art  of  water-colour. 
How  is  any  one  to  summarise  the  merits  and  defects  of  this  immense 
achievement  ?  Only  a  word  can  be  said  here  on  a  few  points  of 
interest,  the  foremost  among  which  is  Turner's  attitude  to  nature. 
This  topic  alone  would  furnish  material  enough  for  a  long  essay 
Mr.  Hamerton,  in  his  book  on  Turner,  deals  with  it  in  many  of  his 
thoughtful  pages;  and  the  late  Mr.  Monkhouse,  in  "The  Earlier 
English  Water-Colour  Painters,"  gives  one  ingenuous  illustration 
that  brings  us  very  closely  in  touch  with  Turner's  habit  of 
transforming  natural  scenes.  He  takes  a  drawing  of  Newcast/e-on- 
Tyne  by  Girtin  and  contrasts  it  with  Turner's  imaginative  picture  of 
the  same  place,  that  belongs  to  the  "  Rivers  of  England "  series. 
Turner's  Newcastle-on-Tyne  may  be  examined  in  Plate  W9,  and 
Mr.  Monkhouse  says  that  if  we  compare  it  with  his  illustration  of 
Girtin's  water-colour,  and  examine  the  two  bit  by  bit,  "  we  shall 
find  Girtin's  drawing  constantly,  as  it  were,  cropping  up  beneath 
Turner's,  the  smoke  following  the  same  direction  and  the  same 
curves,  the  same  lights  and  the  same  forms  recurring  in  the  same 
places  throughout,  although  not  representing  always  the  same  things. 
If  these  coincidences  occurred  only  in  the  buildings  there  would  be 
more  room  for  doubt,  but  they  occur  in  the  boats  and  the  figures." 
It  is  thus  possible,  if  not  indeed  probable,  that  Turner  used  his  dead 
comrade's  water-colour  when  at  work  upon  his  Newcastle-on-Tyne. 
But  how  impressive  is  the  transfiguration  of  every  part  of  the  busy 
composition  !  Girtin  represents  the  town  and  river  exactly  as  they 
were  between  the  years  1790  and  1800,  while  Turner  summons  up 
into  pictorial  presence  a  glorified  prevision  of  the  Newcastle  of 
to-day.  It  is  a  prophecy  in  art — and  the  picture  still  makes  real 
to  us,  in  a  manner  pregnant  with  imagination,  the  greatness 
wrought  out  of  the  smoke  and  travail  of  a  commercial  time. 
It  is  thus  from  a  lofty  and  imaginative  point  of  view  that  Turner 
looked  at  Nature  and  made  known  his  love  for  her  ;  and  one  may 
compare  his  mental  attitude  to  that  of  a  poet  for  his  mistress.  As 
the  poet  with  all  his  exaggerations  respects  the  womanhood  of 
the  mistress  and  consecrates  it  in  his  verse,  so  Turner,  despite  his 

w  iii 


TURNER'S  LATER  WATER-COLOURS 

departure  from  local  traits  and  topographical  facts,  portrays  for  us 
the  heart  of  Nature — and  portrays  it  in  a  way  more  various  and 
more  full  ot  observation  than  any  landscape  painter  we  know. 
Many  writers  have  analysed  the  special  characteristics  of  the  trans- 
figured changes  in  a  landscape  achieved  by  the  genius  of  Turner  ; 
but  one  thinks  it  best  to  sum  up  the  whole  matter  by  giving  the 
most  noteworthy  feature  of  all,  namely,  the  manner  in  which  he 
magnified  those  elements  of  a  design  which  held  most  strongly  his 
personal  interest  and  sympathy.  He  swelled  rivers,  uplifted  moun- 
tains and  towns,  and  gave  to  his  highly  intricate  compositions  a 
certain  refined  majesty  that  recalls  the  wonder  working  of  a  mirage. 
That  this  conjuring  with  Nature  differs  from  the  scientific  realism 
of  to-day  is  very  obvious,  and  much  may  be  learnt  by  contrasting 
its  achievements  with  the  impassioned  desire  to  be  literal,  that 
gave  us  such  men  as  Sisley,  Monet,  and  their  fellows.  There  is 
room  in  art  for  every  form  of  truth  that  the  imagination  can  dis- 
cover to  us.  It  is  genius  that  makes  the  appeal.  The  aesthetic 
emotions  of  mankind  are  the  judge  and  the  jury  ;  and  if  the  appeal 
stirs  those  emotions  into  a  life  of  pleasure,  art  has  won  a  victory,  no 
matter  what  may  be  the  artist's  attitude  in  his  relation  to  things  seen 
and  felt.  Hence  the  essential  point  in  criticism  is  that  you,  as 
onlooker,  should  be  in  sympathy  with  the  distinctive  aims  expressed 
by  the  work  before  you.  Either  you  must  accept  Turner,  there- 
fore, and  the  idiosyncrasies  of  his  vision,  or  else  you  must  pass  on 
from  him  to  some  painter  more  in  touch  with  the  bent  of  your  dis- 
position. But,  in  any  case,  Turner's  interpretation  of  Nature  was 
all  his  own,  and  it  reminds  one  of  a  little-known  but  valuable 
criticism  that  Goethe  made  on  a  double  sunlight  introduced  by 
Rubens  into  one  of  his  landscapes.  "  It  is  by  this,"  said  Goethe, 
"  that  Rubens  proves  himself  great,  and  shows  to  the  world  that  he, 
with  a  free  spirit,  stands  above  Nature,  and  treats  her  conformably 
to  his  high  purposes.  The  double  light  is  certainly  a  violent  ex- 
pedient, contrary  to  Nature.  But  if  it  is  contrary  to  Nature,  I  still 
say  that  it  is  higher  than  Nature.  I  say  it  is  the  bold  stroke  of  the 
master,  by  which  he,  in  a  genial  manner,  proclaims  to  the  world 
that  art  is  not  entirely  subject  to  natural  necessities,  but  has  laws  of 
its  own."  Goethe  goes  on  to  admit  that  we  must  indeed  respect 
Nature  in  structural  essentials,  else  we  should  annihilate  Nature  by 
changing  the  formation  of  the  bones,  or  the  position  of  the  muscles 
and  the  sinews  that  gives  a  peculiar  character  to  this  or  that  living 
creature.  "  But  in  the  higher  regions  of  artistical  production," 
Goethe  continues,  "  by  which  a  picture  really  becomes  a  picture,  an 
w  iv 


TURNER'S  LATER  WATER-COLOURS 

artist  has  freer  play,  and  here  he  may  have  recourse  to  fictions,  as 
Rubens  had  with  the  double  light  in  his  landscape."  Goethe's 
summary  of  the  whole  matter  is  this:  "The  artist  has  a  twofold 
relation  to  Nature  ;  he  is  at  once  her  master  and  her  slave.    He  is 
a  slave  inasmuch  as  he  must  work  with  earthly  things  in  order  to  be 
understood,  but  he  is  her  master,  too,  inasmuch  as  he  subjects  these 
earthly  needs  to  his  higher  intentions  and  renders  them  subservient. 
He  would  speak  to  this  world  through  an  entirety  ;  but  this  entirety 
he  does  not  find  in  Nature  :  it  is  the  fruit  of  his  own  mind,  or,  if 
you  like  it,  of  the  aspiration  of  a  fructifying  divine  breath." 
A  better  example  of  Goethe's  whole  meaning  could  not  be  found  than 
in  the  works  of  Turner.    No  painter  more  than  he  was  ever  more 
truly  a  master  and  a  slave  to  external  facts.    In  his  treatment  of  details 
he  was  untiring  in  his  patient  and  reverent  fidelity  ;  and  again  and 
again  he  ruined  the  unity  of  a  design  in  order  that  he  might  dwell  (too 
fondly)  on  the  separated  interests  of  minor  parts.    Remark,  too,  in  this 
connection,  the  wondrous  diversity  of  Turner's  sympathy  for  all  kinds 
of  landscapes,  and  do  not  lose  sight  of  that  constant  habit  of  mind 
which  caused  him  to  sweeten  and  complete  his  work  with  human 
joys,  sorrows,  sports,  little  comedies,  and  brisk  occupations.  With 
the  one  exception  of  sombre  and  majestic  forest  scenery,  he  found 
his  own  in  every  conceivable  kind  of  landscape  that  European  travel 
could  suggest  ;  and  it  is  rare  that  we  come  upon  a  single  picture  of 
any  importance  in  which  there  is  not  a  companionable  human  interest. 
It  is  here  that  we  meet  with  the  epical  note  of  his  genius — a  note 
which  is  often  expressed  in  a  dramatic  manner,  sometimes  in  a 
way  that  is  even  comical,  sometimes  touched  with  burlesque.    In  an 
age  when  most  painters  were  either  living  in  their  isles  of  dreams, 
or  else  playing  the  courtier  in  search  of  portrait  commissions,  it  was 
then  that  Turner  felt  the  drama  of  his  country's  life,  and  responded 
to  all  its  vicissitudes.    Little  that  was  national  failed  to  touch  his 
heart.    Naval  victories,  the  death  of  Nelson,  the  burning  of  the 
Houses  of  Parliament,  the  pleasure  of  woodcock  shooting,  the  struggle 
of  the  fisherfolk  along  the  sea-coast,  the  merry-making  of  the  Jack 
Tars  near  Portsmouth,  all  and  each  stirred  his  genius  and  issued  into 
art.    There  is  not  room  here  to  give  many  examples  of  the  dramatic 
and  imaginative  joy  that  Turner  experienced  when  he  portrayed  man 
in  conflict  with  the  elements  or  in  happiness  out  of  doors.  Turn 
to  illustration  W  i — a  powerful  water-colour  of  Pembroke  Castle.  A 
great  thunderstorm  is  clearing  away,  a  moist  desolation  hangs  about 
everything  ;  there  is  wreckage  on  the  shore,  and  danger  to  the  boats 
in  the  near  distance.    Most  painters  would  be  quite  satisfied  with 

w  v 


TURNER'S  LATER  WATER-COLOURS 

that  alone  ;  but  Turner  knew  that  the  fishermen's  toilsome  life  goes 
on,  come  wet  come  woe  ;  the  fact  moved  him,  and  he  made  it 
essential  to  the  balance  of  his  light  and  shade  and  design. 
In  the  illustration  of  Lancaster  Sands  (W  8),  there  is  another  fine 
manifestation  of  the  honest  and  bluff  sailor  delight  that  Turner  felt 
always  for  the  sea-winds  and  cloud-tossed  skies.    While  painting  he 
actually  rode  in  imagination  by  the  side  of  that  lumbering  coach, 
and  was  braced  by  the  exercise.    To  convey  an  impression  of  this 
kind  is  really  a  form  of  great  acting,  and  it  places  Turner  in  the  first 
rank  of  art's  histrionics.    It  must  be  owned  here,  however,  that 
Turner  from  time  to  time  allowed  his  passion  for  the  sea  to  put  his 
work  out  of  keeping  with  the  character  belonging  to  his  subject. 
This  occurs  repeatedly  in  the  "  Ports  of  England "  series.  The 
word  port  implies  safety,  security,  rest,  peace  ;  and  a  picture  of  a 
port  should,  by  all  aesthetic   rights,  be  free  from  any  suggestion 
of  tumbling  waves  and  sea-sickness.    But  Turner  cared  only  for  the 
commercial  value  of  a  name,  and,  in  most  of  his  English  ports,  he 
plays  the  sailor  with  a  gallant  and  cheery  disregard  of  the  inappro- 
priateness  of  his  title.    For  all  that,  when  considered  as  pictures, 
these    water-colours  are  exhilarating  and  characteristic,  and  the 
Sheerness,  like  the  Humber,  is  among  the  best  of  his  seafaring  work. 
The  Portsmouth  (W  1 8)  has  much  charm,  though  the  foreshortening  of 
the  battleship  is  defective  ;  it  leaves  the  shape  of  the  vessel  so  tub- 
like that  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  any  pressure  of  the  wind  in  the 
sails  above  could  drive  the  rounded  mass  of  wood  into  action.  The 
Whitby  (W  1 6)  is  rhythmic  and  beautiful,  while  the  Scarborough  (W  1 3) 
is  truly  port-like,  peaceful,  and  radiantly  serene.     It  is  a  drawing  all 
of  gold,  of  amber,  and  of  translucent  blues.    Everything  is  sunny 
and  charged  with  seaside  laziness.  The  indolent  dripple  of  the  waves, 
the  ships  repeating  their  hulls  in  untroubled  reflections,  the  terrier 
on  guard  near  the  luncheon-baskets — everything  contributes  to  the 
delight  of  ease  that  this  picture  calls  into  being. 

We  may  pass  on  now  to  a  trait  in  Turner's  water-colours  that  appeals 
to  us  all  at  a  first  glance  :  I  mean  the  unfailing  elegance  of  form  and 
line  in  every  part  of  a  composition.  This  particular  grace  is  not 
confined  to  such  details  as  the  curvature  of  branches,  the  massed 
complexity  of  leaves,  the  sweeping  outline  of  a  boat,  and  the  gentle 
undulations  of  a  valley  girt  by  hills  ;  it  is  found  in  the  most  majestic 
of  the  Alpine  pictures,  as  well  as  in  the  most  tempestuous  of  his  sea 
pieces.  It  was  a  quality  that  stood  him  in  excellent  stead  in  the 
interpretation  of  every  sort  of  cloud  effect  ;  and  his  delicacy  of  taste 
was  so  unerring  that  he  rendered  clouds  more  beautifully  than  words 
w  vi 


TURNER'S  LATER  WATER-COLOURS 

can  express.  In  this  connection,  as  a  further  example  of  Turner's 
elegance,  the  student  should  note  the  infinite  tenderness  he  displayed 
when  painting  the  grey  half-tones  under  the  belly  of  a  cumulus 
cloud.  Turner's  greys,  indeed,  are  as  varied  as  they  are  exquisite  ; 
but  they  have  rivals  in  the  greys  of  Miiller,  Cox,  and  Hunt. 
The  colour  plate  of  Arundel  Castle  represents  another  delightful 
phase  of  the  same  quality.  How  graceful  is  the  treatment  of  the 
shelving  woods,  of  the  vanishing  distance  !  The  deer,  too,  with 
their  shy  alertness,  are  admirable.  Turner  never  drew  with  zest 
and  success  any  animal  or  any  bird  that  did  not  appeal  strongly 
to  his  delight  in  elegance.  As  a  consequence  he  preferred  deer  to 
dogs,  and  active  mountain  goats  to  the  sleek  fat  cattle  of  the  pasture 
lands.  The  plumage  of  every  bird  fascinated  his  sense  of  colour  ; 
but  those  which  he  painted  were  all  gentle  and  full  of  grace,  like 
the  teal  in  Illustration  W  7.  On  the  same  page,  in  Plate  W  6, 
there  is  an  unsurpassable  rapid  study  of  fish,  at  once  tenderer  and 
more  spontaneous  than  any  still-life  study  in  water-colour  by  William 
Hunt.  Last  of  all,  we  come  to  the  vignettes  as  examples  of  Turner's 
grace,  delicacy,  and  lightness.  It  has  sometimes  been  asked  why  a 
man  of  such  transcendent  gifts  should  have  spent  so  much  time  in 
designing  vignetted  water-colours.  Shakespeare,  it  is  argued,  did 
not  waste  an  hour  on  trivialities.  Why,  then,  did  Turner,  the 
Shakespeare  of  English  art,  illustrate  the  poems  by  Rogers  with 
vignettes  ?  The  answer  is  simple.  The  vignette  not  only  helped 
him  to  earn  money  :  it  had  special  difficulties  of  its  own,  and  Turner 
delighted  to  show  that  he,  in  a  square  inch  or  two,  could  represent 
hundreds  of  miles  of  distance,  and  produce  many  other  effects  that 
his  publishers  wanted. 

Now,  it  was  Turner's  ambition  to  work  rapidly  in  order  that  he 
might  produce  much  ;  and  he  rarely  spent  many  days  on  even  the 
most  elaborated  water-colour.  He  had  gathered  such  vast  quanti- 
ties of  knowledge  by  his  constant  practice  of  sketching  with  a  pencil 
that  he  was  never  at  a  loss  in  his  studio  for  anything  essential  to 
the  work  in  hand.  Leitch,  the  water-colour  painter,  told  a  friend 
of  mine  that  he  once  accompanied  Pickersgill  to  Turner's  studio, 
where  he  had  the  privilege  of  watching  the  great  man  at  his  labours. 
There  were  four  drawing-boards,  each  of  which  had  a  handle 
screwed  to  the  back.  Turner,  after  sketching  in  his  subject  in  a 
fluent  manner,  grasped  the  handle  and  plunged  the  whole  drawing 
into  a  pail  of  water  by  his  side.  Then,  quickly,  he  washed  in  the 
principal  hues  that  he  required,  flowing  tint  into  tint,  until  this 
stage  of  the  work  was  complete.    Leaving  this  first  drawing  to  dry, 

w  vii 


TURNER'S  LATER  WATER-COLOURS 

he  took  the  second  board  and  repeated  the  operation.  By  the  time 
the  fourth  drawing  was  laid  in,  the  first  would  be  ready  for  the 
finishing  touches ;  and  Leitch  was  greatly  impressed  by  the  common 
sense  of  the  whole  proceeding. 

As  a  rule,  Turner  did  not  mix  his  methods  of  work,  but  painted 
entirely  in  transparent  washes,  or  entirely  in  body-colour.  His 
object  in  transparent  tints  being  purity  and  brilliance,  he  was  careful 
that  the  white  paper  should  be  seen  through  the  myriad  particles  of 
broken  colour  floated  over  it  in  washes.  This  done,  he  finished  his 
work  with  a  netting  of  exquisite  lines  that  knit  the  drawing  together, 
and  left  the  under-painting  to  sparkle  through  the  meshes  of  the 
net.  It  was  thus,  in  his  later  water-pictures,  that  Turner  produced 
"  infinity,"  and  represented  Nature's  daylight. 

In  his  use  of  body-pigment  Turner  was,  and  is,  inimitable,  obtaining 
pastel-like  qualities  which  have  the  greatest  charm,  without  seeming 
in  the  least  at  variance  with  the  medium  of  body-colour.  Almost 
always  the  paper  is  grey,  as  in  the  "  Rivers  of  France  "  series,  and 
also,  let  me  add,  in  a  good  many  little-known  Venetian  sketches  in 
the  basement  of  the  National  Gallery.  In  these  the  white  paint  is 
frequently  put  on  very  thickly  in  a  raised  impasto,  while  in  the  set 
of  French  drawings  the  body-colour  is  used  more  sparingly,  and  the 
grey  paper  is  employed  as  an  actual  colour-factor  with  the  greatest 
skill  and  effect.  The  illustrations  do  justice  to  the  drawings  made  by 
Turner  for  his  Wanderings  by  the  Seine,  and  it  would  be  pleasant  to  say 
much  about  them  if  it  were  at  all  possible  to  express  in  words  their 
differing  beauties  and  defects.  The  figure  interest  is  here  and  there 
too  obtrusive,  as  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville  and  Pont  a" Arcole  (W  31),  and 
in  some  of  the  bridges  the  drawing  is  lumpy  and  heavy,  the  rarest 
defect  in  Turner  ;  but  one  feels  throughout  that  Turner  loved 
France  and  was  happy  in  his  sketching  there.  And  here  we  must 
leave  him  busily  at  work  on  French  soil,  in  a  land  which,  in  the 
words  of  Sir  Philip  Sydney,  was  never  any  thing  worse  to  us  than 
our  "  sweet  enemy " — surely  a  more  lovable  neighbour  than  a 
candid  and  bitter  friend. 


Walter  Shaw  Sparrow. 


W  3.  Water-Colour  Sketch,  between  1820-35 


A  PARK  SCENE 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


W  6.  Water-Colour,  about  1315 


W  7.  Water-Colour  between  1310-20 


STUDY  OF  A  TEAL  FLYING 


W14.  Water-Colour,  Engraved  by  C.  Turner,  1824,  for  the  "Rivers  of  England"  Series 


MORE  PARK,  ON  THE  RIVER  COLNE  In  th£  National  Gallery,  LondoD 

W15.  Water-Colour,  Engraved  by  C.  Turner,  1825,  for  the  "Rivers  of  England"  Series 


TOTNESS,  ON  THE  RIVER  DART  In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


W  16.  Water-Colour,  Engraved  by  T.  Lupton,  1826,  for  the  "  Forts  of  England  "  Series 


OKEHAMPTON  CASTLE,  ON  THE  RIVER  OKEMENT 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


WiS.  Water-Colour,  Engraved  by  T.  Lupton,  1523,  for  the  "Ports  of  England "  Series 


PORTSMOUTH  In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


W  19.  Water-Colour,  Engraved  by  T.  Lupton,  1828,  for  the  "Ports  of  England"  Series 


SHEERNESS  In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


W  20.  Water-Colour  Sketch,  Middle  Period 


TIVOLI :  THE  TOWN  WITH  ITS  CASCADES  In  the  National  Gallery,  Li 


ST.  MAURICE  Ir_  the  National  Gallery,  London 


COLOGNE  :  A  VIGNETTE 


In  the  Collection,  of  Sir  Edwin  Durnmg-Lawreuc« 


W  23.  Body-Colour  on  Grey  Paper;  Engraved  by  W.  Miller  for  "Wanderings  by  the  Seine,"  First  Series,  1834 


PARIS  :  THE  PONT  NEUF 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


W  25.  Body-Colour  on  Grey  Paper,  1833-35 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


W26.  Body-Colour  on  Grey  Paper;  Engraved  by  R.  Brandard  for  "Wanderings  by  the  Seme,"  First  Series,  1834 


BETWEEN 


LLEBCEUF  AND  VILLEQUIER 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


W  29.  Body-Colour  on  Gre 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


W  33.  Body-Colour  on  Grey  Paper,  1835-45 


W  35.  Body-Colou 


Paper;  Engraved  by  J.  Smith  for  "Wanderings  by  the  Seme,"  1835 


W  36.  Body-Colour  on  Grey  Paper,  1833-35 


HONFLEUI 


W  37.  Water-Colour  Sketch,  Late  Period ;  Redrawn  for  Mr.  Munro  m  1643 


W42.  Water-Colour  Sketch,  1342 


VENICE  :  ENTRANCE  TO  THE  GRAND  CANAL 


In  the  National  Gallery,  London 


t 


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TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 


HE  spectacle  of  a  great  painter  presiding  over  a 
school  of  engravers  devoting  itself  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  his  works,  no  uncommon  one  in 
the  history  of  art  during  the  last  four  centuries, 
presented  itself  in  the  case  or  Turner  in  all 
probability  for  the  last  time.  Thus  Raphael 
had  brought  under  the  spell  of  his  ideal  Marc 
Antonio  Raimondi,  Agostino  Veneziano,  and 
Marco  da  Ravenna ;  and  Rubens  had  attuned 
to  complete  harmony  with  his  genius  Scheltius  a  Bolswert,  Lucas 
Vorsterman,  and  Paulus  Pontius.  But  whilst  Raphael's  engravers, 
working  almost  exclusively  from  drawings  in  chalk  or  pen  and  ink, 
had  the  way  to  correctness  of  form  and  purity  of  line  made  straight 
before  them,  and  Rubens'  were  in  the  advantageous  position  of 
following  a  master  not  less  admirable  for  rich  colouring  than  for 
forcible  chiaroscuro,  the  engravers  who  undertook  the  translation  ol 
Turner's  works  into  black  and  white  met  at  the  first  start  with 
apparently  insuperable  difficulties.  For  line  and  chiaroscuro,  the 
characteristic  limitations  of  engraving  as  understood  by  the  Old 
Masters,  were  qualities  alien  upon  the  whole  to  Turner's  genius, 
particularly  in  the  majority  of  the  drawings  which  he  prepared 
for  the  engravers.  In  these  the  most  conspicuous  qualities  are 
brilliancy  of  tone  and  complexity  of  detail,  obtained  by  the  use  01 
strong  local  colour  in  the  foreground,  supporting  less  intense  but  not 
less  pronounced  tints  in  the  distance  and  sky,  and  assisted  by 
manipulation  of  the  surface  of  the  paper. 

The  task  set  before  Turner's  engravers  demanded  therefore  judgment 
no  less  than  technical  skill  ;  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that,  although  the  engravers  of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  had  been  fully  trained  in  the  use  of  mechanical  resources 
more  complex  than  those  of  the  art  at  any  previous  period  of  its 
history,  even  they  would  have  proved  unequal  to  it  had  not  the  painter 
himself  incessantly  watched  over  the  progress  of  the  plates.  The 
marked  inferiority  of  the  renderings  of  Turner's  work  by  the  same 
engravers,  after  the  guiding  hand  of  the  painter  was  no  more,  shows 
indeed  that  this  is  no  over-statement  of  the  facts.  For  while  he 
may  fairly  claim  to  have  revived  during  his  lifetime  the  conditions 
which  inspired  the  great  schools  of  Rome  and  Antwerp,  he  left 
at  his  death  a  band  of  engravers  only  capable  of  producing,  with 
an  enthusiastic  devotion  akin  to  that  of  the  Parmesan  school  of 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

Toschi,  copies  endowed  with  every  merit  except  resemblance  to  the 
originals. 

The  first  engraving  after  Turner,  at  that  time  beginning  his  career 
as  a  draughtsman  for  topographical  publications,  was  issued,  in  the 
Copper  Plate  Magazine,  on  May  i,  1794,  when  he  was  just  nineteen 
years  old.  It  was  not,  of  course,  to  be  expected  that  the  youthful 
artist  would  find  at  his  disposal  any  one  of  the  more  famous  of  the 
body  of  excellent  engravers  then  at  work  in  London  ;  but  it  must 
be  admitted  that  he  was  more  than  ordinarily  unfortunate  in  the 
earliest  translations  of  his  works  into  black  and  white.  It  can  only 
be  said  that,  whatever  their  biographical  value,  the  plates  (about 
twenty-five  in  number)  executed  from  his  drawings  before  1799  are 
destitute  of  artistic  interest.  But  if  Fortune  was  unfavourable  to  him 
at  first,  she  certainly  made  amends  when  two  of  his  drawings  were 
bought  for  engraving  as  headpieces  to  the  Oxford  Almanac.  The 
reputation  of  the  Almanac,  even  at  that  time  a  venerable  institution 
with  above  a  century  of  tradition  behind  it,  assured  the  employment 
of  an  engraver  of  established  character  and  ability  ;  and  the  sum  (150 
guineas)  paid  to  James  Basire  for  reproducing  each  drawing  upon 
copper,  may  truly  be  said  to  have  profited  Turner  little  less  directly 
than  the  modest  payments  of  ten  guineas  which  he  himself  received. 
It  was,  besides,  unquestionably  a  compliment  to  Turner  to  be  called 
upon,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  men  of 
mature,  balanced  style,  such  as  Edward  and  Michael  Rooker,  in  whose 
hands  these  almanac  headings  had  recently  achieved  artistic  distinction 
of  no  mean  order.  Nor  can  we  complain  if  Turner  showed  his 
appreciation  of  the  compliment  by  adhering  rigidly  to  the  lines  which 
his  forerunners  had  laid  down.  It  cannot  be  supposed  that  Basire, 
an  excellent  if  somewhat  dry-mannered  engraver,  trained  in  the 
traditions  of  an  elder  school,  would  have  proved  responsive  to  any 
attempt  to  add  to  the  accepted  architectural  composition,  atmo- 
spheric effects,  such  as  were  even  then  becoming  characteristic  of 
Turner  in  his  more  ambitious  works.  The  existence  in  the  British 
Museum  of  a  trial  proof  of  the  Oriel  College,  touched  with  white 
chalk,  proves  that  the  painter,  whatever  the  distance  in  their  ages  and 
reputations,  exercised  some  censorship  over  the  engraver.  Turner 
executed  ten  drawings  for  the  almanacs  ;  two  of  them  were  paid 
for  in  1799,  one,  Merton  College  Chapel,  in  1801  ;  the  remaining 
seven  (only  six  of  which  were,  however,  engraved)  together  in 
1803-4  ;  he  received  the  original  rate  of  remuneration  for  each. 
The  plates  are  all  signed  by  James  Basire  ;  but  Mr.  Wedmore,  in 
the  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,"  has  expressed  doubts  as  to 
e  ii 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

which  of  the  members  of  the  Basire  family,  several  generations  of 
whom  produced  engravers  of  eminence,  actually  worked  upon  them. 
As,  however,  the  elder,  James  Basire,  died,  according  to  the  same 
authority,  in  1802,  he  at  least  cannot  have  touched  any  but  the 
three  earliest  ;  while  his  grandson,  who  was  born  in  1796,  can 
scarcely  have  begun  to  practise  his  art  until  after  the  last  was 
published  (181 1). 

Following  immediately  as  it  does  in  chronological  sequence  the 
latest  of  the  somewhat  stiff  almanac  headings,  the  first  line  engraving 
in  what  would  now  be  recognised  as  the  distinctively  Turneresque 
style,  produces  for  an  instant  the  idea  that  the  genius  of  the  painter 
burst  out  into  sudden  blaze.  But  upon  reflexion  the  student  re- 
members that  not  only  was  the  drawing  for  the  almanac  itself  eight 
years  old,  and  executed  withal  in  some  degree  in  the  conventional 
style  of  an  elder  generation,  but  that  Turner  had  by  this  time  already 
painted  the  Macon,  the  Spithead,  and  many  other  great  oil  pictures  ; 
had  executed  the  majestic  Swiss  water-colours,  and  had  issued  above 
twenty  plates  of  Liber  Studiorum. 

These  events  in  the  course  of  Turner's  career  are  commonplaces  in 
the  history  of  English  art  ;  but  less  familiar  is  the  train  of  circum- 
stances which  led  to  the  appearance  upon  the  scene  of  a  band  of 
sympathetic  and  accomplished  engravers  eager  to  spread  abroad  the 
ideals  which  the  maturing  genius  of  the  painter  gradually  realised  ; 
while  still  less  has  due  recognition  been  awarded  to  the  intuition  of 
the  impresario  who,  linking  those  two  forces,  inaugurated  the  brilliant 
final  period  in  the  annals  of  British  engraving. 

John  Britton,  in  whose  "  Fine  Arts  of  the  English  School  "  the 
print  of  Pope's  Villa  by  John  Pye  (to  which  the  foregoing  lines  refer) 
appeared,  was  the  most  able  of  a  race  at  once  antiquaries, 
draughtsmen,  authors  and  publishers,  called  into  existence  by  the 
fashion  for  books  on  mediaeval  archaeology  which  ran  high  in  the 
earlier  days  of  the  Gothic  revival.  It  is  difficult  to  do  justice  within 
limited  compass  to  the  influence  of  Britton  over  the  development 
of  line  engraving  in  the  nineteenth  century  ;  but  it  is  essential 
to  mention  in  this  place  one  of  his  numerous  publications,  the 
"  Architectural  Antiquities  of  Great  Britain."  For  this  book, 
throughout  its  slow-progressing  appearance  in  periodic  form,  dis- 
played a  gradual  advance  in  the  quality  of  the  plates  which  throws 
most  instructive  light  upon  the  origin  of  theTurnerian  school.  The 
illustrations  to  the  first  volume,  completed  in  1807,  exhibit,  for  the 
most  part,  the  solid  merits  of  the  old-fashioned  manner,  no  less 
worthily  than  the  Oxford  Almanacs  engraved  by  Basire.    But  at  the 

e  iii 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

end  of  this  volume  are  to  be  found  two  prints,  the  first  productions 
of  two  youthful  artists,  Frederick  Mackenzie  the  draughtsman  and 
John  Le  Keux  the  engraver,  who,  working  in  combination,  here  at 
length  secured  the  firm  drawing,  brilliant  texture  and  accurate  detail 
so  long  the  goal  of  Britton's  ambition.  Upon  this  slender  foundation 
he  succeeded  in  building  up  a  school  of  engravers  in  whose  hands 
the  whole  character  of  landscape  engraving  underwent  a  complete 
revolution,  culminating  with  the  introduction  of  steel  plates  at  a 
somewhat  later  period.  From  this  school  Turner  drew  numerous 
recruits,  and  there  is  evidence  that  he  watched  its  early  progress  with 
interest,  since,  when  the  question  of  the  choice  of  an  engraver 
to  reproduce  his  picture  of  High  Street,  Oxford,  arose  in  1809,  he 
remarks  in  a  letter  to  the  publisher:  "'Britton's  Antiquity'  contains 
some  good  specimens  of  engraving  for  depth,  clearness,  and  well-laid 
lines." 

It  must,  therefore,  have  been  with  some  certainty  of  seeing  a 
successful  rendering  of  his  picture  of  Pope's  Villa  that  he  consented 
to  its  publication  in  a  work  that  was  receiving  Britton's  particular 
attention.  A  letter  upon  the  subject  written  by  him  to  Britton,  and 
containing  the  well-known  passage  encouraging  the  critic  to  espouse 
"  the  part  of  Elevated  Landscape  against  the  aspersions  of  map- 
making  criticism,"  is  unusually  complacent  and  discursive.  But 
whatever  his  hopes,  it  is  certain  that  they  were  far  exceeded  by  the 
plate  actually  produced,  for  his  comment  to  the  engraver  is  said  to 
have  been,  "  You  can  see  the  lights  ;  had  I  known  there  was  a  man 
living  could  have  done  that,  I  would  have  had  it  done  before."  If, 
as  Mr.  Roget  has  remarked,  "  the  introduction  of  Mackenzie's 
talent  to  the  world,  and  the  happy  union  thereof  with  that  of  the 
engravers  John  and  Henry  Le  Keux,  was  amongst  the  proudest 
achievements  of  Britton's  tact  and  good  taste,"  how  much  more  could 
he  pride  himself  upon  the  insight  which  brought  the  genius  of  Turner 
and  the  ability  of  Pye  into  conjunction  !  It  is  proper  to  record  the 
tradition  that  Pye  had,  as  a  fact,  executed  a  plate  after  Turner,  before 
the  Pope's  Villa,  while  he  was  indeed  still  in  the  employment  of 
James  Heath,  whose  signature  it  actually  bears,  but  it  is  only  necessary 
to  do  so  in  order  to  point  out  its  historical  insignificance.  For  it  is 
certain  that  the  production  of  Britton's  negotiations  was  the  means 
of  securing  to  Pye  the  painter's  approval  and  support,  and 
circumstances  soon  arose  enabling  the  expression  of  that  appreciation 
to  take  a  practical  form. 

While  the  plate  of  Pope's  Villa  was  in  progress,  Turner  was  approached 
by  Mr.  Wyatt,  of  Oxford,  the  well-known  printseller,  with  a  com- 
e  iv 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

mission  for  two  pictures  of  Oxford,  one  to  represent  the  High 
Street,  the  other  a  distant  view  of  the  city,  to  be  reproduced  in  black 
and  white  on  a  large  scale.  A  remarkably  interesting  series  of  letters 
relating  to  this  transaction  has  been  printed  (in  chaotic  disorder)  by 
Thornbury.  In  one  of  the  earliest  of  them  (November  23,  1809) 
Turner  names  five  engravers,  amongst  whom  Pye  is  not  to  be  found, 
as  capable  of  undertaking  the  plates  which  Wyatt  had  in  view, 
adding,  "  the  question  is  certainly  of  the  first  importance  to  me  ; 
but  you  must  decide,"  and  referring  in  a  postscript  to  Britton's 
"  Architectural  Antiquities  "  in  the  words  already  quoted.  Ultimately 
Middiman  was  selected  to  engrave  the  High  Street,  and  throughout 
1809  there  are  references  to  his  progress  in  the  letters.  Before  the 
plate  was  very  far  advanced,  however,  some  time  in  18 10,  as  the  date 
upon  the  finished  proof  in  the  British  Museum  shows,  the  engraver 
of  Pope's  Villa  had  gained  the  warm  approbation  of  Turner,  who  at 
once  determined  that  the  High  Street  should  be  completed  by  no  other 
hand.  Fresh  arrangements  were  made,  upon  what  terms  the  letters 
do  not  record,  and  the  first  Oxford  print  appeared  (18 12)  as  the 
joint  production  of  Middiman  and  Pye,  while  Pye  assumed  supreme 
control  over  the  second  plate,  Oxford  from  the  Abingdon  Road, 
published  six  years  later. 

Whatever  the  arrangements  which  placed  Pye  in  the  most  prominent 
position  with  regard  to  these  plates,  it  is  certain  that  it  was  not  such 
as  reflected  any  discredit  upon  Middiman,  who  proved,  in  the  plates 
illustrating  Whitaker's  "  History  of  Richmondshire,"  a  coadjutor 
only  less  valuable  to  Turner  than  Pye  himself.  It  is  possible,  indeed, 
that  Middiman  had  originally  undertaken  no  more  than  the  preliminary 
etching  of  the  High  Street,  Oxford,  although  allusions  to  his  work  in 
the  letters  do  not  lead  to  that  conclusion.  It  was  a  process  of  con- 
siderable importance  in  the  conduct  of  engraving  at  that  period, 
producing  little  less  than  half  of  the  effective  lines  upon  the  copper, 
and  one  he  frequently  carried  out  for  Pye,  both  in  the  plates  for  the 
"History  of  Richmondshire,"  and  in  those  forHakewill's  "Picturesque 
Tour  of  Italy." 

Of  the  twenty  plates  for  the  "History  of  Richmondshire,"  the 
earliest,  Hardraw  Fall,  was  published  upon  October  1,  18 18  ; 
the  latest,  Wycliffe,  upon  March  1,  1823.  The  Heysham  is  the 
only  one  of  the  drawings  bearing  a  date  (18 18)  which  has 
come  under  the  notice  of  the  writer.  But,  as  documents  pub- 
lished by  Sir  Walter  Armstrong,  in  his  book  upon  the  painter, 
and  letters,  printed  by  Mr.  Cosmo  Monkhouse,  serve  to 
show,  Turner  began  to  make  expeditions  in  search  of  materials 

e  v 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

for  these  compositions  as  early  as  1815  and  18 16.  The  eighteen 
drawings  to  illustrate  the  "  Tour  of  Italy "  are  apparently  none 
of  them  dated.  It  is  known,  however,  that  Hakewill's  original 
sketches,  upon  which  they  were  iounded,  were  made  in  18 16-17, 
while  the  earliest  plate,  the  Bridge  and  Castle  of  San?  Angelo, 
appeared  on  October  1,  1818,  and  the  last,  the  Forum  Romanum, 
was  published  upon  August  1,  1820.  Pye,  Middiman,  Rawle, 
J.  Landseer,  and  other  engravers,  almost  all  of  whom  had  at  one 
time  worked  under  the  vigilant  eye  of  Britton,  contributed  to 
the  success  of  Hakewill's  "  Tour,"  as  they  had  partaken  in  the 
triumph  of  the  "  History  of  Richmondshire,"  and  it  was  shared  by 
others  who,  unlike  them,  were  destined  to  add  to  their  renown  by 
translations  of  the  painter's  later  works. 

It  is  necessary  to  insist  somewhat  pedantically  upon  the  exact 
moment  of  Turner's  first  journey  to  Italy  (he  had  only  visited 
Piedmont  upon  his  earlier  Continental  tour),  for  it  has  been  generally 
admitted  that,  as  far  as  the  course  of  a  man's  life  can  be  diverted  by 
a  single  incident,  the  direction  of  Turner's  genius  was  changed  by  it. 
Yet,  although  a  flood  of  loose  talk  about  periods  and  styles,  greater 
perhaps  than  ever  deluged  an  artist's  biography,  has  been  poured 
forth  in  relation  to  his  pictures  and  their  motives,  few  serious 
attempts  have  been  made  to  settle  the  exact  chronology  of  his  life 
and  paintings.  Thus  writers  who  ought  to  have  known  better  have 
allowed  it  to  be  inferred  from  their  words  that  the  Hakewill  subjects 
were  drawn  in  the  first  instance  from  Nature  by  Turner,  although 
it  is  certain  that  only  the  seven  latest  published  plates  can  have 
benefited  even  in  their  final  retouching  from  his  personal  knowledge 
of  the  scenes  they  represent  ;  whilst  the  late  Mr.  Monkhouse,  in  his 
"  Life  of  Turner,"  actually  speaks  of  Italian  influence  being  visible 
in  the  Richmondshire  drawings. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  inquire  here  whether  the  lack  of  literary 
material  for  Turner's  biography  is  due  to  deliberate  mystification,  or 
mere  taciturnity  on  his  part,  but  it  is  permissible  to  point  out  that 
what  he  failed  to  record  may  occasionally  be  learned  from  others. 
It  so  happens  that  at  the  time  of  Turner's  visit  to  Rome  Sir  Thomas 
Lawrence  was  also  there,  concluding  the  business  of  the  Royal 
mission  entrusted  to  him  by  the  Prince  Regent,  by  painting  the 
portrait  of  Pope  Pius  VII.  During  the  summer  of  18 19  his  letters 
to  England  are  full  of  entreaties  addressed  to  their  common  friends, 
to  urge  upon  Turner  the  importance  of  visiting  Rome  while  "  his 
genius,"  as  Lawrence,  quoting  Horace  Walpole  in  one  place  (June  27, 
1 8 1 9) ,  expresses  it,  "is  in  flower."  "It  is  injustice  to  his  fame 
e  vi 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

and  his  country,"  he  exclaims,  "  to  let  the  finest  period  of  his  genius 
pass  away  .  .  .  without  visiting  these  scenes.  ...  I  am  perpetually 
reminded  of  him,"  and  much  more  that  appears  additionally  flattering 
from  the  context.  For  the  President's  letters  are  almost  invariably 
filled  with  the  record  either  of  his  own  artistic  triumphs,  or  of  the 
relaxation  which  he  permitted  himself  occasionally  to  take  in  the 
company  of  very  great  people.  Indeed,  so  much  is  this  the  case 
that,  having  induced  Turner  to  come  to  Rome,  he  entirely  neglected 
to  mention  his  presence  there.  The  landscape  painter  would,  to  be 
sure,  have  found  himself  sufficiently  ill  at  ease  in  the  society  of 
the  Metternichs  in  real  life,  and  perhaps  Lawrence  thought  it  better 
to  keep  him  out  of  it  even  upon  paper.  Fortunately,  however,  he 
has  noted  in  another  letter  the  period  of  Turner's  departure;  and  the 
painter  has  himself  left,  in  a  drawing  at  Farnley  Hall,  a  precise  record 
of  the  date  (January  15,  1820)  of  his  crossing  Mont  Cenis  on  his 
way  home. 

The  fruits  of  Turner's  pilgrimage,  beginning  with  Rome  from  the 
Vatican  and  the  Bay  of  Baia,  were  shortly  visible  upon  the  walls  of 
the  Academy  ;  its  effect  upon  his  drawings  for  the  engravers,  less 
obvious  but  not  less  forcible,  has  now  to  be  discussed.  But  first  it  is 
necessary  to  retrace  our  steps  to  the  year  1807,  which,  according  to 
the  accepted  accounts,  saw  the  beginning  of  Liber  Studiorum, 
and  having  followed  the  course  of  that  work,  until,  at  the  time  of 
this  expedition  to  Italy,  it  finally  came  to  a  standstill,  to  describe  the 
produce  of  Turner's  connection  with  the  Cookes  ;  since  this  con- 
nection, arising  as  early  as  18 12,  lasted  until  after  his  return  from 
Rome  and  the  appearance  of  the  transformation  wrought  in  his  style 
by  that  great  epoch  in  his  career. 

"  Liber  Studiorum  :  Illustrative  of  Landscape  Compositions,  viz., 
Historical,  Mountainous,  Pastoral,  Marine,  and  Architectural,  by 
J.  M.  W.  Turner,  R.A.,"  the  title  given  by  the  artist  to  his  work,  at 
once  declares  the  scope  of  the  book  and  suggests  the  rivalry  with 
Claude  to  which  it  is  said  to  have  owed  its  inception.  The  history 
of  this  inception  and  that  of  each  separate  plate  in  the  series,  from 
the  earliest  sketch  in  which  the  composition  took  form  upon  paper 
to  the  last  shadowy  indistinctness  in  which  it  took  flight  from  the 
copper  plate,  has  been  worked  out  by  Mr.  Rawlinson  and  Mr. 
Roget  with  a  scientific  minuteness  such  as  has  been  expended  upon 
no  other  theme  in  the  annals  of  English  art.  While  a  flock  ot 
subjective  critics,  from  the  days  of  the  author  of  "Modern  Painters" 
downwards  has  made  the  book  its  pasture,  nibbling  it  bare  of  every 
trace   of  spiritual  meaning  that  the  prints  could  be  supposed  to 

e  vii 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 
possess.  Thus,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  student,  Liber  Studiorum 
is  an  exhausted  mine,  and  the  most  elaborate  of  the  subjective  critics 
has,  to  borrow  a  forcible  metaphor  of  Sir  Walter  Armstrong,  long 
ago  "  squeezed  Liber  dry  as  far  as  its  possibilities  of  an  esoteric 
meaning  go." 

It  has  often  been  maintained  that  one  of  the  principal  circumstances 
to  spur  the  painter  to  the  production  of  Liber  Studiorum  was  entire 
inability  to  sell  his  exhibited  pictures.    His  financial  affairs,  it  is 
true,  at  the  time  when  he  undertook  the  publication,  can  scarcely 
have  begun  to  show  more  than  the  beginnings  of  the  prosperity  they 
afterwards  assumed.    Yet  in  commissions  for  groups  of  large  draw- 
ings (amongst  others,  eight  for  Sir  Richard  Colt  Hoare,  1799  ;  five 
for  Mr.  Beckford,  1800;   an  unknown  number  for  Mr.  Fawkes, 
1803) ;  and  in  payments  for  important  oil  pictures  (from  such  patrons 
as  Lord  Yarborough,  1803  ;  Lord  Egremont,  1804;  Lord  de  Tabley, 
1806)  he  must  have  laid  at  least  the  foundations  of  the  fortune  ot 
£140,000  he  ultimately  derived  from  a  public  which  rejected  and 
despised  him.    His  transactions  with  the  engravers  and  publishers, 
through  whose  agency  so  large  a  portion  of  that  fortune  was  subse- 
quently acquired,  had  not,  however,  at  that  time  developed  to  any 
great  extent.    It  is,  therefore,  improbable  that  Turner  attempted  to 
find  a  publisher  to  issue  in  periodical  numbers,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  time,  his  first  great  series  of  engravings  ;  and  in  ulti- 
mately deciding  to  undertake  its  publication  himself,  he  did  nothing 
unusual  with  artists  at  that  period.   Nor  is  there  any  reason  why,  had 
he  adopted  the  ordinary  business  procedure  of  his  day — so  much  less 
exacting  than  that  of  the  present — he  should  have  failed,  as  he 
unquestionably  did,  to  attract  the  attention  of  a  public,  prepared  by 
the  eminence  he  had  achieved  in  other  directions,  to  accord  a  friendly 
welcome  to  his  venture.  If,  as  he  petulantly  remarks  upon  the  margin 
of  one  of  the  proofs,  everything  "  conspired  against  the  work,"  it 
must  be  confessed  that  the  author  was  one  of  the  principal  conspirators. 
Thus  even  modern  research  has  failed  to  unearth  a  copy  of  the 
original  proposals  for  the  work,  known  to  have  been  issued  before 
1808,  since  an  account  of  them  is  printed  in  an  obscure  critical 
review  in  that  year.    Nor  has  it  discovered  any  actual  advertisement 
of  the  publication  earlier  than  1 8 16,  when,  seven  or  eight  years  after 
the  first  and  second,  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  numbers  were  ready 
for  the  subscribers.    There  is,  it  is  true,  apart  from  the  traces  of  the 
preliminary  prospectus  already  mentioned,  evidence  that  the  desira- 
bility of  advertising  had  occurred  to  Turner  at  an  earlier  stage. 
But  this  evidence,  a  note  addressed  to  Charles  Turner  the  engraver, 
e  viii 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

whose  name  as  publisher  is  to  be  found  upon  the  plates  in  the 
second,  third  and  fourth  numbers,  itself  only  shows  that  the  painter's 
idea  had  borne  no  practical  fruit.  It  is  written  upon  a  proof  of  a 
plate  published  in  the  third  number  (June  1808),  but  possibly  pre- 
pared for  production  in  the  second  (February  1808),  and  contains  an 
allusion  to  the  imminent  temporary  closing  ot  Turner's  gallery  which 
presumably  carries  back  the  date  of  writing  to  some  time  towards  the 
close  of  the  summer  of  1807.  Taking  the  form  of  a  scolding 
addressed  to  the  engraver  and  publisher,  it  incidentally  reveals  the 
disorganisation  into  which  the  scheme  had  already  fallen.  "  Re- 
specting advertising,"  it  runs,  "  you  know  full  well  that  everything 
ought  to  have  been  done  long  ago  !  "  And,  after  complaining  that 
he  had  not  "  seen  a  word  in  the  papers,"  the  painter  proceeds  to 
urge  the  withdrawal  of  the  proposed  advertisement  from  the  Times 
and  its  transference  to  any  other  newspaper  which  could,  at  short 
notice,  find  space  for  its  insertion. 

This  inefficient  attempt  at  announcing  the  work  was  probably  only 
one  of  the  causes  of  its  failure.  In  the  long  space  of  twelve  years 
consumed  by  the  production,  at  very  irregular  intervals,  of  the  four- 
teen parts  which  alone  appeared,  the  patience  of  subscribers,  accus- 
tomed even  to  the  vagaries  of  periodical  publication,  may  well  have 
become  exhausted.  But  the  principal  source  of  disaster  was  the 
disingenuous  conduct  of  the  author  himself.  The  subscribers  were 
divided  into  two  classes,  of  whom  one  paid  at  first  two-fifths  more 
than  the  amount,  and  later  twice  the  amount  paid  by  the  other,  and 
in  consideration  of  this  became  entitled  to  proof  impressions  of  the 
plates.  Yet  nothing  is  more  certain  than  the  entire  impartiality  with 
which  Turner  distributed  ordinary  prints  to  subscribers  of  both  classes. 
Nor  is  this  all.  At  a  later  period  two  of  the  engravers  and  the 
printer  of  Liber  Studiorum  signed  a  solemn  document  in  which  they 
declared  that  the  plates  were  incapable  of  producing  more  than  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  impressions  of  fine  quality.  Yet,  notwithstanding 
this,  five  thousand  prints,  taken  with  few  exceptions  from  the  seventy- 
one  published  plates,  were  found  in  Turner's  house  after  his  death  ; 
and  of  these  two  thousand  have  been  described  as  excellent  in  quality. 
It  is  therefore  evident  that  a  number  of  the  choicest  impressions  from 
each  plate,  dangerously  approaching  the  limit  of  those  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  declaration,  it  was  able  to  produce,  had  been  retained  by 
the  artist,  in  defiance  of  his  duty,  if  not  of  his  engagements,  to  the 
subscribers.  The  print-buying  public  treated  by  Turner  in  this 
manner  may  have  been  limited,  but  it  was  unquestionably  both 
learned  and  critical.    The  high  standard  of  taste  maintained  in 

e  ix 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

England  at  that  period,  when  the  classical  principles  of  criticism 
were  still  studied  and  believed,  had  made  it  the  most  profitable 
market  for  the  art-treasures  scattered  by  political  troubles  upon  the 
Continent.  And  a  high  degree  of  cultivation  prevailed  which,  what- 
ever its  attitude  towards  contemporary  art,  could  detect  an  inferior 
print  as  readily  as  a  false  quantity,  and  would  equally  scorn  it. 
Turner  himself  is  thus  largely  to  blame  if  the  appreciation  of 
Liber  Studiorum  was  reserved  for  a  posterity  to  whom  alone  he 
allowed  its  merits  to  be  revealed. 

The  date  assigned  by  Mr.  Rawlinson  to  the  publication  of  the  first 
number,  and  hitherto  universally  accepted,  is  January  20,  1807  ;  but 
if  this  point  can  be  proved  to  be  unassailable,  another  in  the  history 
of  Liber  Studiorum  advanced  by  the  same  great  authority,  and  received 
with  all  the  deference  due  to  him,  will  apparently  have  to  yield  before 
inquiry.  This,  the  statement  that  Turner's  earliest  plan  contem- 
plated the  engraving  of  the  plates  in  aquatint,  presupposes  the 
conclusion  that  the  single  plate,  the  Bridge  and  Goats,  executed  by 
F.  C.  Lewis  in  that  manner,  was  a  preliminary  experiment,  the 
failure  of  which,  in  the  painter's  eyes,  led  to  the  subsequent  adoption 
of  the  mezzotint  method.  The  evidence  for  questioning  one  or 
other  of  these  views  is  afforded  by  Mr.  Rawlinson  himself  in  the 
first  appendix  to  his  book.  He  there  prints  three  letters  written  by 
Turner  to  Lewis  and  relating  to  the  plate  in  question.  The  latest 
of  these  alone  is  dated  (Dec.  14,  1807)  ;  but  the  first  mentions 
that  Turner  was  then  living  at  West  End,  Upper  Mall,  Hammer- 
smith (whence,  indeed,  according  to  Mr.  Roget,  the  second  letter  is 
also  addressed),  a  fact  which  the  catalogue  of  the  Academy  exhibition 
of  1807  fails  to  record.  The  catalogue,  where,  as  a  rule,  the  addresses 
of  the  artist  were  carefully  noted,  does  moreover  insert  Turner's 
Hammersmith  address  in  the  following  year,  whence  it  may  be 
presumed  that  he  had  taken  possession  of  the  house  after  the  opening 
of  the  exhibition  of  1807  but  before  that  of  the  following  year. 
Any  contention  that  the  date  of  the  last  letter  is  an  accidental  error 
seems  thus  to  be  barred  ;  nor  can  it  be  said  that  either  aspect  of  the 
question  is  seriously  affected  by  the  statement  made  by  Lewis,  above 
forty  years  after  the  transaction  had  taken  place,  that,  as  far  as  he 
could  recollect,  he  had  always  considered  this  plate  as  the  earliest 
engraved  by  any  one  for  the  work.  Moreover,  if  the  historical 
position  of  the  aquatint  plate  as  an  experimental  attempt  be  main- 
tained as  impregnable,  not  only  must  the  accepted  date  of  publication 
of  the  first  part  be  abandoned,  but  the  possibility  of  the  execution  of 
ten  plates  in  mezzotint  by  a  single  engraver  between  December  14, 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

1807,  and  February  20,  1808  (the  date  of  publication  of  the  second 
part)  will  have  to  be  admitted. 

Upon  the  other  hand,  if  the  rejection  of  the  usually  received  date  of 
publication  of  the  first  part  in  favour  of  a  period  after  December 
1807  be  admitted,  some  analogy,  drawn  from  the  appearance  of  later 
numbers  in  pairs,  may  be  accepted  as  supporting  a  conjecture  that  it 
was  produced  simultaneously  with  the  second  in  February  1808. 
And  the  project  for  advertisement,  described  in  a  note  written  by  the 
painter,  as  with  fair  presumption  has  already  been  shown,  in  the 
late  summer  of  1807,  may  further  be  taken  as  referring  to  the 
forthcoming  publication  of  both  the  first  and  second  parts,  and  its 
apparently  belated  position  in  relation  to  the  first  alone  be  thus 
accounted  for.    In  favour  of  this  view  it  must  also  be  added  that  the 
plates  of  the  first  part  have  no  date  of  publication  engraved  upon 
them,  although  this  is  somewhat  discounted  by  the  fact  that  the 
plates  of  the  second  not  only  bear  a  date  but  are  further  differentiated 
from  those  of  the  first  by  the  addition  of  the  title  of  "  Professor  of 
Perspective  in  the  Royal  Academy  "  to  the  painter's  name. 
In  any  case,  however,  it  is  impossible  to  maintain  that  a  plate 
completed  in  the  last  month  of  1807  was  a  preliminary  trial  of 
method,  either  for  a  series  of  prints,  five  of  which  had  already  appeared 
eleven  months  before,  or  for  one  which,  solely  in  consequence  of  its 
failure,  was  inaugurated  with  ten  engravings  in  an  entirely  different 
manner  within  two  months  after  its  execution.    Nor  is  the  fact  that 
it  is  the  only  print  of  the  series  engraved  throughout  in  aquatint 
especially  in  favour  of  its  being  a  preliminary  experiment,  since, 
although  mezzotint  was  described  in  the  prospectus  quoted  in  the 
"  Review  of  Publications  in  Art,"  1808,  as  the  process  selected  for 
Liber  Studiorum,  Turner  would  doubtless  have  considered  himself 
as  much  at  liberty  to  alter  the  style  of  the  engravings  as  to  enhance, 
in  the  way  he  did,  the  price  of  the  parts  after  the  work  had  been  for 
some  time  in  progress. 

Whatever  relation  these  experiments  may  bear  to  the  history  of 
Liber  Studiorum,  there  can  be  no  question  of  their  tentative 
character.  And,  in  the  light  or  the  possible  fate  of  the  work  had 
they  proved  more  successful,  it  is  curious  to  observe  the  rapid  change 
in  the  painter's  attitude  from  toleration,  and  even,  it  must  be  supposed, 
some  degree  of  liking,  to  a  feeling  apparently  of  contempt  for  the 
aquatint  process.  His  objection  to  it  culminated,  it  would  seem,  in 
the  case  of  Lewis,  in  what  he  considered  its  extravagant  costliness  ; 
yet,  in  a  well-known  note  upon  a  proof  of  the  Dunstanborough  Castle, 
one  of  two  plates  in  which  Charles  Turner  made  use  of  that  method 

e  xi 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

in  the  sky,  he  indignantly  speaks  of  the  device  as  an  "  indulgence." 
Both  of  these  plates,  the  Dunstanborough  and  the  Bridge  in  Middle 
Distance,  were  produced  in  June  1808,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
plate  of  Calm  passed  through  the  earlier  stages,  revealing  Turner's 
own  attempt  to  master  the  despised  process,  not  later  than  the  same 
period.    Turner,  no  doubt,  had  objections  to  aquatint  upon  artistic 
grounds,  although  there  is  nothing  to  prove  that  a  letter  to  John 
Girtin  (printed  by  Mr.  Roget),  in  which  they  are  believed  to  be 
darkly  expressed,  has  anything  to  do  with  aquatint  or  with  Liber 
Studiorum.    And  some  technical  difficulties,  purposely  exaggerated 
by  Lewis,  had  also  increased  Turner's  distrust  of  this  method  for  the 
purpose  he  had  in  view.    A  more  plausible  reason  for  his  disdain 
may,  however,  be  sought  in  circumstances  similar  to  those  which  are 
said  to  have  inspired  at  a  later  period  his  dislike  for  steel  plates  upon 
their  first  introduction  ;  its  abuse,  that  is  to  say,  for  vulgar  and 
commonplace  purposes.     The  beginning  of  1808  witnessed  the 
publication  of  Ackerman's  "  Microcosm  of  London,"  a  periodical 
production  followed  by  numerous  similar  works,  such  as  the  histories 
of  Westminster  Abbey,  the  Universities,  the  Public  Schools  and  the 
Royal  Palaces.    The  appearance  of  these  works,  coinciding  exactly 
with  that  of  Turner's  great  undertaking,  deluged  the  world  with 
showily  tinted  prints,  and  completed  the  degradation  of  the  aquatint 
manner.    The  extent  of  this  decline  may  well  have  been  foreseen  by 
Turner  at  the  time  when  the  Dunstanborough  was  being  engraved, 
while  the  increasing  success  of  mezzotint  in  the  hands  of  Turner 
and  his  assistants  speedily  deprived  aquatint,  even  at  its  best,  of  all 
claim  to  rank  as  an  alternative  process  for  the  plates  of  Liber 
Studiorum. 

There  is  one  circumstance  which  gives  to  the  great  collection  ot 
mezzotint  plates  connected  with  the  title  Liber  Studiorum  the 
highest  interest  and  value.  It  is  that  amongst  these  prints — that  is 
to  say,  not  only  the  seventy-one  plates  actually  published,  and  the 
twenty  unpublished  subjects  usually  supposed  to  have  been  intended  to 
form  part  of  the  work,  but  also  the  dozen  of  plates,  commonly  called 
its  "  Sequel,"  whose  connexion  with  the  series  is  more  questionable 
— are  to  be  found  the  only  engravings  ever  executed  by  Turner  him- 
self. Equally  close  supervision  he  exercised  over  all  the  engravings 
from  his  designs.  But,  while  he  is  never  known  to  have  used  the 
burin,  even  to  retouch  a  plate,  he  acquired,  perhaps  through  his 
youthful  association  with  Raphael  Smith,  complete  mastery  over  the 
artistic  resources  of  working  in  mezzotint,  if  not  of  all  its  technical 
subtleties.  The  skill  he  showed  appears  indeed  astonishing  when  it 
e  xii 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

is  remembered  that  he  can  have  had  but  little  previous  practice  in 
scraping  in  mezzotint.     But  that  displayed  by  the  professional 
engravers  who  contributed  to  the  work  is  scarcely  less  remarkable  ; 
for,  although    they  had  all  ample  experience  of  the  method  in 
portrait  engraving,  they  mostly  applied  it  to  the  interpretation  of 
landscape  for  the  first  time  under  Turner's  direction.    They  were 
unfortunately  called  upon  but  rarely  after  the  discontinuance  of  Liber 
Studiorum  to  exercise  the  accomplishment  they  acquired  during  their 
connexion  with  it.     But  the  direction  taken  by  landscape  art  in 
general,  and  by  Turner's  genius  in  particular,  after  the  year  1820, 
was  such  as  to  place  the  process  in  a  disadvantageous  position  from  an 
artistic  point  of  view.    So  much  was  this  the  case  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  steel  plates,  which  shortly  followed,  whereby  the  unprofitable 
commercial  qualities  of  mezzotint  were  largely  obviated,  failed  to 
reinstate  it  in  the  favour  of  the  publishers  of  landscape  engravings. 
There  is  every  reason  for  believing  that  the  increasingly  slow  progress 
and  final  cessation  of  Liber  Studiorum  was  due  to  no  other  cause  than 
the  gradual  divergence  of  Turner's  aims  from  those  it  is  possible  for 
mezzotint  to  express.    Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the  work 
must  from  the  beginning  have  been  financially  unprofitable.    It  is 
probable,  indeed,  that,  in  spite  of  the  painter's  eccentric  business 
arrangements,  the  losses  became  less  as  the  publication  proceeded. 
For  not  only  did  its  existence  become  gradually  known  to  a  circle  of 
admirers,  limited  perhaps,  to  whom  Turner  had  been  at  no  pains 
to  announce  its  original  appearance,  but  the  cost  of  engraving  the 
later  had  been  cut  down  far  below  that  of  the  earlier  numbers  of 
the  series.    Turner's  absence  in  Italy,  lasting  at  the  utmost  for  six 
months,  which  followed  the  production  of  the  fourteenth  number, 
could  have  been  no  serious  interruption  to  the  publication,  since  the 
last  two  pairs  of  parts  had  appeared  at  intervals  of  four  and  three 
years  from  each   other  ;    whereas  the  ardent  desire  for  qualities 
unattainable  in  mezzotint,  brilliancy  of  tone  and  intricacy  of  detail, 
which  had  long  been  taking  form  in  his  mind  and  matured  almost 
suddenly  after  his  return  from  Rome,  breathes  from  every  canvas  and 
sketch  he  afterwards  touched. 

This  explanation  of  the  cause  of  the  abandoning  of  Liber  Studiorum 
before  it  was  more  than  three-quarters  completed  is  justified  by  an 
examination  of  the  plates  of  the  "  Rivers  of  England,"  the  earliest 
important  series  undertaken  by  him  after  returning  from  Italy. 
These  prints,  highly  experimental  as  they  are  in  character,  display  in 
many  curious  ways  the  painter's  effort  to  inspire  mezzotint  with 
qualities  alien  to  its  natural  character. 

e  xiii 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

Sir  Walter  Armstrong,  in  his  recently  published  volume  upon 
Turner,  while  admitting  that  the  artist's  style  of  painting  in  water- 
colours  underwent  a  great  change  about  this  period,  traces  its 
earliest  dawn  back  to  the  time  of  the  painter's  first  commission  to 
make  drawings  for  the  "  Views  on  the  Southern  Coast,"  in  which 
his  long  connection  with  W.  B.  and  G.  Cooke  had  its  origin.  The 
reasons  he  gives  for  this  change  are  somewhat  remarkable  ;  for,  after 
acknowledging  that  in  drawings  prepared  for  the  engraver  before 
that  time  Turner  worked  in  a  "  straightforward  fashion,"  and 
noticing  that  about  the  period  of  his  taking  service  with  the  Cookes 
a  change  in  his  style  set  in,  he  proceeds  to  say  that  the  artist 
"  modified  his  method  in  obedience  to  the  requirements  of  the 
burin."  That,  having  acquired  in  the  execution  and  supervision  of 
Liber  Studiorum  some  conception  of  the  adaptability  of  mezzo- 
tint— a  "  tone  process,"  as  Sir  Walter  calls  it — for  expressing 
uniformity  of  tone  and  largeness  of  composition,  the  painter  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  line,  being  the  counterpart  of  tone,  could 
only  express  contrary  effects,  and  "  should  never  be  called  upon  to 
carry  broad  and  simple  tones  on  to  copper."  In  the  course  of  his 
argument,  Sir  Walter  alludes  to  the  prodigious  quantity  of  detail 
with  which  the  drawings  made  by  Turner  for  the  engravers  are 
crowded,  and  admits — what  few  will  be  prepared  to  dispute — that 
the  effect  from  an  artistic  point  of  view  was  "  not  always  happy." 
But  when  he  declares  it  as  his  opinion  that  this  detail  was  introduced 
with  "  no  apparent  object  but  to  give  the  burin  something  to  play 
with,"  and  assumes  that  the  painter,  by  refraining  from  sending  any 
of  the  drawings  to  the  Academy  or  other  public  exhibition  (which 
unluckily  is  not  the  case),  confessed  his  own  sense  of  their  short- 
comings, he  will  seem  to  many  to  be  reasoning  as  if  the  descent  of 
the  weight  of  a  clock,  or  the  uncoiling  of  its  mainspring,  was  caused 
by  the  revolution  of  the  hands. 

The  opinion  of  Sir  Walter  Armstrong  is  received  with  a  deference 
so  nearly  universal  that  it  is  necessary  to  bring  forward  some  serious 
evidence  in  venturing  to  dispute  it.  Such  testimony,  however,  some 
less  familiar  points  in  the  general  history  of  Turner's  relations  with 
the  brothers  Cooke  may  be  said  to  afford.  This  connexion  has 
probably  suffered  more  from  misrepresentation  than  any  other  episode 
in  the  artist's  career.  Although  it  has  left  many  literary  records  of 
its  existence,  some  of  them  of  an  interest  such  as  but  few  of  the 
written  remains  of  the  painter  possess,  it  has  been  made  familiar 
principally  through  the  untoward  events  which  led  to  its  termina- 
tion. Having  been  set  forth  at  some  length  in  an  angry  letter 
e  xiv 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

written,  under  considerable  provocation  it    must  be  owned,  by 
W.  B.  Cooke,  this  crisis,  with  the  addition  of  some  ill-natured  and 
unjustifiable  comments,  was  easily  converted  by  Mr.  Thornbury  into 
a  myth,  and  took  a  prominent  place  in  his  account  of  Turner's 
martyrdom.    But  there  can  be  no  doubt,  even  from  his  version,  that 
the  arrangement  was  at  least  an  extremely  lucrative  one  to  the 
artist.    For,  from  the  accounts  printed  by  Mr.  Thornbury,  it  appears 
that  not  only  was  the  painter  paid  large  sums  for  drawings  bought 
outright  by  the  Cookes,  as  those  for  the  "  Southern  Coast  "  seem  to 
have  been,  as  well  as  for  the  copyright  and  loan  of  drawings  for 
engraving,  upon  the  principle  adopted  in  the  case  of  the  "  Rivers  of 
England "  ;    but  he  also    received  numerous  small  payments  for 
retouching  proofs  of  plates  in  course  of  execution  from  designs  of 
other  men.    Besides  this,  he  was  enabled,  through  the  medium  of 
exhibitions  held  in  the  Cookes'  gallery,  to  dispose  of  many  of  the 
drawings  for  the  "  History  of  Richmondshire"  and  "  Picturesque  Tour 
of  Italy,"  executed,  and  paid  for  as  regards  copyright,  several  years 
before.    The  brothers  were,  moreover,  in  the  habit  of  giving  Turner 
commissions  for  large  and  costly  pictures  in  water-colours  to  give 
dignity  to  their  exhibitions,  which  were  held  certainly  during  three 
seasons  (1822,  '23  and  '24),  and  perhaps  during  more.    It  is,  indeed, 
not  impossible  that  Turner  persisted  in  the  use  of  colour  in  his 
drawings  for  the  engravers,  when  it  must  frequently  have  been  per- 
plexing to  them,  for  the  sake  of  the  profit  such  works  would  after- 
wards bring  in.    It  had  been  in  his  youth  the  almost  universal  habit 
of  engravers'  draughtsmen  to  work  in  colour  ;  and  in  forsaking  this 
fashion,  while  making  the   sketches   for  Liber  Studiorum  he  was 
doubtless  prompted  more  by  his  desire  to  imitate  Liber  Veritatis 
than  by  anxiety  to  consult  the  convenience  of  the  engravers.  But 
towards  the  latter  part  of  his  life  it  became  the  custom  to  execute 
drawings  for  engraving  in  sepia,  in  order  to  simplify  the  task  of  the 
engraver,  if  at  the  cost  of  reducing  the  ultimate  gains  of  the 
draughtsman.    The  fact  that,  of  above  a  hundred  drawings  pre- 
pared for  the  engravers  by  Turner  before  the  period  of  these  exhibi- 
tions of  the  Cookes,  about  twenty  only  were  found  in  his  possession 
at  his  death,  proves  that  the  apparently  unnecessary  labour  lavished 
by  Turner  upon  such  work  was  not  without  material  reward. 
Sir  Walter  Armstrong  may  not  be  inclined  to  admit  the  claims  of 
Cookes'  show-room  to  rank  as  a  public  exhibition,  but  he  can  hardly 
deny  those  of  the  Galleries  of  the  Birmingham  Society  of  Artists 
and  the  Newcastle  Academy,  to  name  only  two  of  the  provincial  exhi- 
bitions to  which  the  painter  contributed  drawings  such  as  he  criticises. 

E  xv 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

The  aggressiveness  of  technical  handling  in  the  plates  of  the  "Southern 
Coast"  evidently  forced  itself  upon  the  attention  of  the  eminent  critic, 
since  he  reasons  back  from  it  to  the  elaboration  of  the  original  draw- 
ings. And  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  two  brothers  who  executed 
nearly  three-fourths  of  the  engravings  were  not  artists  equal  to  ex- 
pressing in  their  translations  of  his  works  any  appreciation  they  may 
have  had  of  Turner's  aims.  A  curious  involuntary  recognition  of 
their  inability  to  grasp  the  stylistic  peculiarities  of  the  artists  who 
drew  for  them  is  afforded  by  the  latest  of  Turner's  biographers,  who 
has  singled  out  from  the  "  Coast"  subjects  two,  both,  as  it  happens,  by 
Wint,  for  particular  admiration  as  the  productions  of  his  hero. 
One  of  the  reasons  why  the  dexterity  of  the  Cookes  was  driven  to 
dissipating  itself  in  calligraphic  flourishes  arose  from  the  fact  that 
the  plates  had  to  be  engraved  upon  exactly  the  same  scale  as  the 
drawings.  It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  Turner  had  any  settled 
views  as  to  the  proportions  that  one  ought  to  bear  to  the  other  ;  but 
on  some  occasions  the  matter  is  known  to  have  been  decided  for  him  by 
the  publishers.  The  drawings  forHakewill's  "Italy,"  the" Harbours" 
and  the  "  Rivers  of  England,"  as  well  as  many  of  those  for  the  later 
vignettes  and  frontispieces,  are  the  same  size  as  the  engravings  from 
them.  Those  for  the  "  History  of  Richmondshire  "  and  "  England  and 
Wales"  were  reduced,  the  first  by  one-third,  the  second  by  nearly  one- 
half,  in  transference  to  the  copper.  This  reduction  in  the  case  of 
the  "England  and  Wales"  subjects  is  especially  striking  in  the  present 
connexion,  as  Turner  is  believed  to  have  taken  particular  interest  in 
the  planning  and  production  of  this  series.  The  drawings  are 
crowded  with  detail  such  as  only  the  most  summary  engraving  could 
render  intelligible  even  on  a  similar  scale.  When  diminished  to  one- 
half  the  size,  any  display  of  engravers'  virtuosity  was  completely 
impossible.  Indeed,  to  so  great  a  degree  is  the  condensation  carried, 
that  Ruskin,  when  anxious  to  explain  the  qualities  of  the  drawings 
to  the  readers  of  "  Modern  Painters,"  was  compelled  to  have  a  few 
square  inches  from  some  of  them  engraved  in  the  original  dimensions. 
It  is  observable,  moreover,  that  the  habit  of  accumulating  masses  of 
detail  in  his  pictures,  including  those  never  intended  for  engraving, 
grew  upon  Turner  up  to  a  certain  point  in  his  advancing  years. 
While  successfully  as  he  trained  his  engravers  to  render  the  tones  of 
distance,  and  the  forms  of  cloud,  with  delicate  fidelity  to  his  style, 
he  was  scarcely  ever  able  to  teach  them  to  understand  the  character- 
istic conventionalities  of  his  foregrounds.  And  it  was,  no  doubt, 
upon  this  account  that  he  gladly  complied  with  the  fashionable 
demand  for  vignette  forms,  where  this  difficulty  had  no  existence. 
e  xvi 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

The  progress  of  this  passion  for  detail  may  be  traced  in  a  very  inter- 
esting manner,  through  the  long  series  of  touched  proofs  in  the 
British  Museum.  The  earliest  of  these,  Browsholme  (from  Whitaker's 
"History  of  Whalley,"  1800)  and  Oriel  College  ("Oxford  Almanac," 
1 80 1 ),  are  retouched  in  a  broad  style  with  white  chalk  only.  An  attempt 
to  raise  in  this  way  the  tone  of  the  lights  in  the  plates  of  engravers 
educated  in  the  darkling  traditions  of  Woollett  seems,  in  fact,  to  have 
been  the  principal  object  of  Turner's  attention  at  this  period.  And 
he  is  known  to  have  expressed,  in  words  which  have  already  been 
quoted,  his  pleasure  and  surprise  upon  meeting  with  an  engraver,  in 
the  person  of  John  Pye,  who  could,  as  he  put  it,  "  see  the  lights." 
But  Pye  was  an  exception,  and  a  proof  of  the  Gledhow  (engraved 
about  18 1 5,  by  George  Cooke  for  Whitaker's  "  Leodis  and  Elmete," 
published  November  1820)  is  far  from  the  last  which  shows  the 
struggle  for  light  still  engaging  the  painter's  energies  more  closely 
than  any  other  quality  of  engraving.  The  paper  is  deeply  scored 
with  a  knife  and  hatched  all  over  with  white  chalk,  and  a  note 
in  the  margin  entreats  the  engraver  to  "  make  the  lights  pro- 
duced by  the  scraper  very  brilliant  "  ;  the  chalk  "being  more  for 
general  tones."  Even  here,  however,  in  a  small  marginal  sketch  ot 
the  outline  of  a  roof,  anxiety  for  minute  truthfulness,  natural  enough 
upon  this  occasion  in  a  topographical  draughtsman,  is  already  dis- 
cernible. Another  plate  by  George  Cooke — the  frontispiece  to  the 
"Antiquities  of  Pola  "  (18 18) — shows  in  two  consecutive  proofs  how 
actual  fact  had  by  this  time  taken  precedence  of  general  light  and 
shade  in  Turner's  estimation.  The  earlier  contains  a  quantity  ot 
architectural  material  added  in  pencil,  which  the  later,  with  sweeping 
strokes  of  white  chalk,  attempts  to  subdue  into  aerial  perspective. 
The  long  series  of  proofs  of  the  "  Southern  Coast  "  forms,  however,  the 
most  interesting  portion  of  the  collection.  It  is  curious  to  notice 
that  in  the  earliest  of  these,  Lulworth  Cove  (March  18 14),  the  white 
chalk  still  holds  the  place  afterwards  taken  by  the  lead  pencil.  The 
artist  probably  felt  that,  with  the  addition  of  more  detail,  however 
relevant,  this  subject  might  cross  the  boundary  between  landscape 
art  and  geological  diagram.  Weymouth  (published  at  the  same  time) 
is,  on  the  other  hand,  covered  with  many  alterations  in  black  lead 
intended  to  make  the  forms  of  boats  and  rigging  more  clearly 
intelligible  ;  while  the  same  means  are  used  in  Lyme  Regis 
(Nov.  1 8 14)  to  reinforce  the  stratification  of  the  cliffs.  This 
time,  however,  it  had  a  definite  artistic  purpose  ;  "  to  counteract," 
as  a  note  by  Turner  explains,  "the  sweeping  lines  of  all  the  hills," 
and  a  further  comment,  "the  lights  I  want  had  better  be  reserved 

e  xvii 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

until  the  next  proof,"  seems  to  show  that  the  procedure  adopted  in 
the  Pola  had  now  approved  itself  as  customary.  The  "  next  proof," 
here  mentioned,  bears  upon  its  margin  a  well-known  note  or 
W.  B.  Cooke's  giving  such  a  valuable  account  of  Turner's  method 
of  retouching  that  it  is  desirable  to  print  it  once  more  in  this  place. 
"  On  receiving  this  proof,"  writes  the  engraver,  "  Turner  expressed 
himself  highly  gratified — he  took  a  piece  of  white  chalk  and  a  piece 
of  black,  giving  me  the  option  as  to  which  he  should  touch  it  with. 
I  chose  the  white  ;  he  then  threw  the  black  chalk  to  some  distance 
from  him.  When  done,  I  requested  he  would  touch  another  proof 
in  black.  '  No,'  said  he,  '  you  have  had  your  choice  and  must  abide 
by  it.'  How  much  the  comparison  would  have  gratified  the 
admirers  of  the  genius  of  this  great  and  extraordinary  artist  I"  It  is, 
indeed,  difficult  to  imagine  what  the  painter  would  have  done  with 
the  black  chalk  upon  this  occasion,  since  he  found  it  necessary  to 
disfigure  the  proof  which  gratified  him  so  highly  with  such  quantities 
of  the  white.  Without  this  verbal  explanation  posterity  would 
assuredly  have  been  left  to  conclude  that  it  was  as  far  from  expressing 
the  delicacy  aimed  at  by  Turner  as  any  of  its  predecessors,  or  as  its 
successor  Torbay,  which  has  merely  the  words  "  Too  dark  "  scribbled 
across  the  sky.  Later  on,  Portsmouth  (February  1825),  an  early 
plate  of  his  favourite  engraver,  William  Miller,  was  found  to  lack 
distinctness  in  the  rigging  of  the  ships.  But  perhaps  the  most 
remarkable  instance  of  insistence  upon  trifles  of  realism  is  to  be 
found  in  a  proof  of  an  earlier  plate,  Plymouth  Dock  (October  18 16). 
The  left-hand  foreground  here  has  extracted  from  the  painter 
a  commendatory  "  Bravo  !  "  scrawled  across  it,  but  a  diminutive 
object  in  the  hand  of  one  of  a  group  of  sailors  making  merry, 
which  appears  on  the  right,  was  found  wanting  in  actuality. 
Accordingly  a  note,  "Can  make  the  fiddle  more  distinct,"  accom- 
panied by  an  inimitable  sketch  of  the  instrument,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  margin.  This  insistence  upon  the  fiddle,  entirely  immaterial  to 
the  pictorial  effect,  no  doubt  reflected  the  gaiety  of  the  artist's  mind 
at  the  time,  and  the  proof,  suggestively  marked  by  Cooke,  "  Sent 
by  post  from  Mr.  Fawkes's  seat  in  Yorkshire,"  is  in  every  way  a 
precious  morsel  for  the  student  of  Turner's  character. 
Scarcely  inferior  in  interest  as  an  artistic  document  is  a  proof  of 
the  Vale  of  Ashburnham  ("  Views  in  Sussex,"  18 19).  In  this,  besides 
much  general  enhancing  of  the  lights  with  white  chalk,  many  details 
of  extreme  apparent  unimportance  are  elaborately  explained.  Thus 
the  contents  of  a  field  in  the  further  middle  distance  are  to  be 
distinguishable  as  "  hop-poles  in  bundles "  ;  special  attention  is 
e  xviii 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

called  to  the  fact  that  a  house — still  further  from  the  spectator — 
has  "  three  windows   each  side  of  the  entrance "  ;  and  even  the 
remote  horizon  is  to  be  enriched,  as  a  half-illegible  note  directs, 
with  some  "  rocks "  which  would  assuredly  be  invisible  in  nature. 
Much  more  testimony  of  the  same  kind  might  be  extracted  from 
the  same  sources  were  it  not  that  the  distinguished  critic,  whose 
views  regarding  Turner's  attitude  towards  the  engravers  they  have 
been  incidentally  used  to  combat,  has  in  a  brilliant  chapter  (the 
tenth)  of  his  book  pointed  to  the  veritable  cause  of  the  change  he 
has  described.    This  change  was,  in  fact,  due  to  the  intellectual 
atmosphere  of  the  painter's  lifetime.    It  was,  in  the  first  place,  a 
period  of  revolution  in  the  political  and  the  industrial  world,  and 
such  upheavals  have  been  accompanied  invariably  in  modern,  and 
perhaps  also  in  ancient,  history  by  the  recrudescence  of  naturalism  in 
painting  and  sculpture.    This  is,  indeed,  no  more  than  would  be 
expected  from  the  transference  of  the  control  of  the  sources  of  wealth, 
and,  by  consequence,  of  art-patronage  also,  into  the  hands  of  a  class 
little  fitted  by  education  to  appreciate  the  artificial  qualities  of  style 
and  imaginative  reflexion.    And  it  is  for  this  reason  inevitable  that 
painting  as  well  as  engraving  should  have  been  bound,  as  Sir  Walter 
Armstrong  expresses  it,  "  during  the  greater  part  of  Turner's  lifetime, 
hand  and  foot  to  the  tyranny  of  bourgeois  ideals  "  ;  that  the  transitory 
conditions  of  English  middle-class  life  should  have  ceased  to  demand 
from  pictorial  art  "  the  large  harmony  of  design,  the  unity  of 
conception,  which  spring  naturally  from  a  desire  to  adapt  one  of  the 
freest  forms  of  art  to  previously  existing  data";  that  its  place  should 
instead  have  been  usurped  by  a  striving  to  gratify  an  "  impertinent 
curiosity,"  and  the  artistic  vice  of"  subordinating  the  welfare  of  the 
work  of  art  itself  to  the  idea  with  which  the  artist  is  big."  Yet 
great  geniuses  have  been  known  to  soar  above  material  surroundings 
more  brutalising  in  this  respect  than  those  through  which  Turner 
had  to  make  his  way. 

The  gulf  traversed  by  the  theory  and  practice  of  fine  art  during  the 
artist's  lifetime  was  indeed  vast.  He  was  less  than  two  years  old 
when  the  immortal  discourse  of  Reynolds  upon  the  "  Reality  of  a 
Standard  of  Taste  "  was  delivered  ;  he  survived  to  see  the  publication 
of  the  first  volume  of"  Modern  Painters."  The  Academy  exhibition 
of  1790,  the  earliest  to  which  he  contributed,  counted  a  large  and 
sombre  romantic  picture  by  Fuseli  as  its  principal  attraction  ;  in 
that  of  1850,  where  the  last  of  his  exhibited  pictures  were  to  be 
seen,  Millais'  Christ  in  the  House  oj  His  Barents  riveted  public 
attention.    Turner's  work  was  at  every  stage  in  sympathy  with  the 

e  xix 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

principle  underlying  this  great  transition,  and  by  a  natural  conse- 
quence, it  follows  that  his  admirers  are  divided  broadly  into  two 
parties.  To  one  of  these  the  painter's  revulsion  from  the  classical 
rules  upon  which  the  seventh  discourse  of  Reynolds  is  based  is  a 
misfortune  to  be  lamented  and  excused  at  the  expense  of  the 
exigencies  of  engraving,  financial  expedience  or  what  not.  To  the 
other  his  approach  to  the  standard  of  naturalism  held  up  by  the  author 
of  "  Modern  Painters  "  is  only  too  slow  and  uncertain. 
A  natural  boundary  between  them  is  afforded  by  the  abandoning  of 
Liber  Studiorum  and  the  artist's  first  visit  to  Rome  in  1819—20.  His 
first  importantundertakingafterhis return,  "The  Rivers ofEngland,"is, 
as  has  been  already  pointed  out,  strongly  marked  with  the  signs  of 
transition.  Indeed,  from  these  signs  the  prints  may  be  said  to  derive 
their  principal  importance.  In  spite  of  the  abuse  of  grandiose  titles 
not  uncommon  at  that  time,  it  is  incredible  that  the  twenty  plates 
published  can  represent  more  than  a  part  of  what  was  originally 
intended.  The  scheme,  as  far  as  Turner  was  concerned,  was  an 
attempt  to  combine  the  breadth  and  softness  achieved  by  mezzotint 
in  Liber  Studiorum  with  an  exuberance  of  detail  such  as  line  engraving 
alone  had  been  able  to  secure  in  the  "Southern  Coast."  It  is  possible 
that,  if  no  other  considerations  had  entered  into  the  matter,  he  would 
have  succeeded  in  his  aim.  But  the  question  of  durability  in  the 
plates  had  also,  upon  the  publishers'  account,  to  take  a  place  in  the 
compromise.  Of  the  six  engravers  employed,  four  had  already 
proved  their  skill  by  plates  for  Liber  Studiorum.  But  Charles  Turner 
when  called  upon  to  inaugurate  the  new  series  (January  1,  1824) 
with  a  repetition,  modified  in  some  respects,  of  one  of  his  most  suc- 
cessful subjects  in  the  old,  found  himself  face  to  face  with  a  task 
beyond  his  powers.  For  not  only  had  he  in  this  new  Norham  Castle 
to  overcome  the  difficulties  of  the  newly  discovered  and  imperfectly 
understood  process  of  mezzotint  upon  steel,  but  he  had  to  grapple 
with  the  mass  of  minute  features  with  which  the  painter's  grow- 
ing passion  for  incidental  detail  had  led  him  to  encumber  the  fore- 
ground. Wreaths  of  mist,  figures,  cattle,  and  even  a  cock  crowing 
on  a  wall  introduced  to  hammer  the  impression  of  the  effect  of  early 
morning  into  the  spectator,  taxed  the  method  employed  beyond  its 
capacity  and  pointed  to  the  inevitable  adoption  of  line  engraving 
as  the  only  available  manner  of  reproducing  this  accumulation  of 
matter.  Such  engravings,  however,  may  have  proved  practical 
from  the  publisher's  point  of  view,  although,  as  three  of  the  steel 
plates  broke  down  during  the  printing,  even  so  they  were  not 
entirely  successful.  A  glance,  upon  the  other  hand,  at  one  of  the 
E  xx 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

plates,  executed  upon  copper  in  what  it  is  natural  to  suppose 
represents  Turner's  spirit  towards  the  compromise,  shows  a  result 
even  more  disastrous  to  the  publisher  than  the  former  had  proved 
to  the  painter.    The  outline  of  the  IQrkstall  Abbey,  to  select  an 
appropriate  example,  was  in  the  first  place  delicately,  indicated  by 
etching  in  soft  ground  ;  over  this  another  ground  was  laid  so  micro- 
scopically fine  in  texture  that  it  is  only  possible  for  an  expert  to 
determine  whether  it  is  in  aquatint  or  mezzotint  ;  upon  the  top  of 
this  is  much  work  clearly  in  the  latter  method,  while  the  whole  is 
reinforced  with  a  copious  use  of  dry-point.    The  charm  of  such  a 
plate  had  evaporated  almost  before  the  printing  had  begun,  and 
nothing  is  easier  when  studying  it  than  to  bring  oneself  into  com- 
plete agreement  with  Cooke's  point  of  view,  as  explained  in  his  irate 
letter,  in  the  quarrel  which  terminated  his  connexion  with  Turner. 
In  fact,  had  he  surrendered  the  twenty-five  India  proofs  from  each 
plate  demanded  by  the  painter,  he  would,  in  such  an  instance  as  the 
I^irkstall  Abbey,  have  made  him  a  present  of  all  the  tolerable  impres- 
sions it  was  capable  of  producing. 

There  is,  indeed,  no  greater  anomaly  in  the  painter's  strange  character 
than  the  attitude  he  revealed  towards  engraving  upon  this  and  other 
occasions,  nor  is  its  least  curious  feature  his  habit  for  which  no 
reasonable  explanation  can  be  found,  of  hoarding  all  the  finest  im- 
pressions of  plates  from  his  designs.  His  conduct  with  regard  to 
Liber  Studiorum,  when  he  had  only  his  own  interests  to  damage,  has 
already  been  touched  upon,  but  his  failure  to  induce  the  Cookes  to 
subscribe  this  suicidal  policy  led  to  his  engaging  with  a  more  com- 
pliant publisher  for  the  production  of  the  "  Picturesque  Views  in 
England  and  Wales"  (1827—38).  Upon  this  great  work,  the  most 
imposing  and  characteristic  carried  out  by  Turner  with  the  aid  of  line 
engraving,  nineteen  engravers  were  employed.  Of  these,  six  had 
already  profited  by  Turner's  instruction  in  the  course  of  the  "  Southern 
Coast,"  three  in  the  "  History  of  Richmondshire,"  one  in  both  publi- 
cations ;  while  one  other  (W.  R.  Smith)  besides  engraving  two  plates 
for  the  "  Richmondshire"  had  also  contributed  to  Hakewill's  "  Italy." 
The  production  ended  in  financial  failure,  and  the  settlement  of 
affairs  involved  the  sale  of  the  copper  plates.  They  were  secured  by 
the  painter  himself,  in  order,  as  he  is  said  to  have  remarked,  that  no 
more  of  his  plates  should  be  "worn  to  shadows,"  or  used  to  produce 
what  he  called  "  umbrella  prints."  His  solicitude  upon  this  account 
would  seem  odd  enough  regarded  only  in  relation  to  the  pains  he 
took,  as  we  have  seen,  to  deprive  the  public  of  as  many  as  possible  of 
the  choice  impressions.    But  it  becomes  even  more  astounding  when 

e  xxi 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

the  plates  themselves  are  brought  under  consideration.  For  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  many  of  them  had  never  had  any  youthful 
freshness  to  lose  ;  while  in  almost  all  the  tenuity  of  the  original 
work,  rendered  yet  more  delicate  by  the  copious  use  of  the  burnisher 
for  finishing-touches  could,  even  before  it  wore  down,  as  it  speedily 
did,  yield  its  charm  only  under  the  most  careful  printing.  The 
extraordinarily  subtle  tones  of  such  plates  as  the  Richmond  from  the 
Moors  and  Llanthony  Abbey  (both  engraved  by  J.  T.  Willmore) 
are  only  to  be  appreciated  in  the  engraver's  proofs,  while  it  is  rare 
to  find  two  even  of  these  perfect  in  every  particular.  Such  a  state  01 
things  existing,  though  in  a  less  marked  degree,  even  in  the  early 
straightforward  prints  of  the  school  of  Pye,  may  well  excuse  the 
pedantic  attitude  regarding  states  with  which  collectors  of  Turner's 
engravings  have  been  reproached. 

If  a  well-known  anecdote  related  by  Thornbury  is  to  be  believed, 
Turner,  not  content  with  hiding  away  all  he  could  amass  of  the  few 
perfect  impressions  his  reckless  experimenting  permitted  the  plates  to 
produce,  actually  had  objections  to  the  spreading  abroad  of  his 
engravings  in  tolerable  condition.  This  story  narrates  how  Turner, 
being  advised  by  Lawrence  to  make  use  of  mezzotint  upon  steel, 
retorted  that  he  had  no  desire  to  become  an  author  of  "  basket 
engravings,"  such  as  those,  from  the  President's  famous  portrait  of 
Lady  Peel,  which  were,  he  declared,  being  sold  in  the  streets  for  six- 
pence apiece.  Setting  aside  the  inconsistency  of  this  insulting  speech 
with  all  that  is  known  of  the  relations  of  the  two  men,  the  facts 
remain  that  the  original  portrait  was  painted  no  less  than  three  years 
after  Turner's  engravers  had  first  tried  the  method,  and  that  the  plate 
in  question  was  engraved  by  Giller  two  years  before  Turner,  for  the 
reasons  already  suggested,  finally  discarded  the  process.  That  the 
plate  was  engraved  at  Sir  Robert  Peel's  private  expense,  and  that  it 
was,  as  Lawrence's  letters  explain,  a  technical  failure,  are  further 
reasons  to  prevent  its  becoming  a  "  basket  engraving  "  at  that  time, 
and  to  account  for  its  rarity  at  this. 

With  the  completion  of  "England  and  Wales,"  the  peculiar  interest  of 
the  Turnerian  school  of  engraving  loses  itself  in  the  general  history 
of  the  decline  of  the  art.  The  work  executed  by  the  painter 
especially  for  the  engravers,  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  took 
almost  invariably  the  form  of  small  illustrations  for  books  produced 
by  publishers,  to  whom  the  utmost  brilliancy  of  effect  consistent 
with  durability  in  the  plates  were  the  matters  of  first  importance. 
The  mechanical  improvements  which  accompanied  the  adoption 
of  engraving  upon  steel  about  1830,  and  a  general  advance  in  the 
e  Xxii 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVERS 

standard  of  the  art — due  in  no  small  degree  to  Turner's  efforts — 
reduced  the  fulfilling  of  these  conditions  to  predicable  certainty. 
But  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  result  was  other  than  to  debase  the 
effect  of  Turner's  plates  (amounting  between  1825  and  1839  to  nearly 
350  in  number)  to  the  level  of  those  engraved,  at  the  same  time,  and 
frequently  for  the  same  publications,  after  Stanfield,  Harding,  Prout 
and  other  less  capable  artists.  There  are,  of  course,  some  exceptions, 
mostly  belonging  to  the  earlier  period  before  steel  plates  had  become 
universal  ;  but  the  fine  taste  displayed  in  the  actual  engraving  of  the 
vignettes  for  Rogers' "  Italy  "  (1830)  and  "Poems"  (1 834),  for  example, 
soon  made  way  for  monstrous  faultlessness  of  mechanical  excellence. 
Yet  the  majority  of  the  engravings  are  the  work  of  the  same  band 
which  had  shared  the  glories  of  the  "England  and  Wales"  plates.  And 
two  new  and  valuable  recruits,  Cousen  and  Armytage,  who  joined  it 
during  the  progress  of  the  "  Seine  "  ( 1 834-3  5) ,  were  soon  drilled  into  the 
same  line.  While  even  the  Findens,  when  translating  Turner, 
forbore  indulgence  in  the  technical  marvels  of  mixed  methods  such  as 
afterwards,  in  the  hands  of  Landseer's  engravers,  gilded  with  their 
uncertain  glories  the  sunset  of  engraving  upon  metal. 
Turner,  moreover,  continued  to  retouch  the  proofs  with  indefatigable 
patience  ;  and,  indeed,  occasionally  seems  to  have  used  his  perseverance 
in  doing  so  as  an  excuse  for  reducing,  particularly  in  the  case  of  the 
"Rivers  of  France"  subjects,  to  the  slightest  possible  memoranda  the 
drawings  upon  which  the  plates  were  based.  Not  less  exacting  were 
his  demands  on  the  engravers  when  the  large  plates,  about  twenty  in 
number,  executed  from  his  oil  pictures  during  his  lifetime,  were 
passing  under  his  supervision.  They  are  amusingly  illustrated  by 
some  notes  upon  the  margin  of  a  proof,  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum,  of  Miller's  engraving  of  Modern  Italy  (published  1843)  and 
by  the  letters,  printed  by  Thornbury,  relating  to  the  execution  of  the 
plate.  Amongst  the  innumerable  technical  instructions  filling  the 
first  letter  (October  22,  1841),  the  reasons  for  the  changes  are 
suggestively  indicated.  They  are  almost  invariably  prompted  by  the 
ruling  passion  for  the  accumulation  of  incident  and  detail.  Thus 
care  is  to  be  taken  that  the  Campagna  appearing  in  the  remote 
distance  shall  resemble  the  "  bare,  sterile  flat "  it  actually  is  ;  while  it 
is  not  enough  to  enhance  the  effect  of  the  foreground  with  "dashing 
touches  and  bright  lights,"  but  a  baby  "  wrapped  up  in  swaddling- 
clothes  "  is  to  be  placed  in  it  in  order  to  "  increase  the  interest  of  the 
whole  !  " 

Not  less  emphatically  do  the  notes  upon  the  touched  proof  call  the 
attention  of  the  engraver  to  similar  points.    "  I  must  ask  you," 

e  xxiii 


TURNER  AND  HIS  ENGRAVER 
writes  the  painter,  "  to  take  out  particularly  every  appearance  of  the 
Rings  at  the  upper  part ; "  of  an  unimportant  obiect  in  the  foreground, 
"  I  mean  it  for  a  bough  shiver'd  off"  ;  and  they  insist  with  equal 
force  upon  the  necessity  of  those  gradations  which  had,  under  less 
favourable  circumstances,  undermined  the  constitution  of  the  "  England 
and  Wales"  plates.  Again,  could  anything  be  more  characteristic  of 
the  impresario  of  Liber  Studiorum  than  the  inquiries  in  another  letter 
(June  15,  1842)  as  to  the  cost  in  Edinburgh  of  printing  engravings 
(" paper  included"),  and  unsuccessful  impressions  to  be  "given  up  but 
not  charged"  or  the  amount  of  "  discount  for  ready  money  "  that  it  is 
possible  to  extort  from  the  printer  ?  Nor  is  the  accustomed  ending 
of  the  transaction — engraver  and  publisher  wearied  out  and  proceeding 
with  the  printing  of  the  plate  which  the  painter  vehemently  main- 
tains to  be  still  unfinished — less  of  a  piece  with  the  tenour  of  the 
whole  of  a  career  then  nearing  its  close. 

Within  ten  years  of  the  date  of  this  letter  the  irony  of  fate  had 
scattered  in  every  direction,  except  that  intended  by  the  artist,  the 
golden  heaps  he  had  so  carefully  built  up,  and  decreed  the  dispersion 
of  the  reams  of  prints  he  had  jealously  hoarded.  And  now  the 
temple  of  Naturalism,  wherein  his  later  contemporaries  had  assigned 
him  a  principal  altar,  has  begun  likewise  to  crumble  away.  But, 
thanks  to  the  traditions  with  which  his  youth  was  fettered,  his  shrine 
may  be  re-erected  in  the  sanctuary  of  another  faith.  For,  as  a 
renowned  Italian  critic,  in  defending  another  painter,  accused  or 
credited  like  Turner  with  deserting  the  classical  standard,  has 
pleaded  that  monotonous  attitudes,  conventional  draperies,  lustreless 
eyes  and  pallid  carnations  can  combine  to  produce  a  supernatural  and 
mystic  effect  ;  and  has  asked  how,  this  being  the  case,  it  waspossible  for 
the  art  of  a  Correggio  to  appear  in  its  day  as  other  than  worldly  and 
material  ;  so  is  it  not  possible  that  posterity,  which  has  exalted  the 
immortal  Parmesan  to  a  place  beside,  if  not  amongst,  the  austere 
stylists  of  an  earlier  day,  may  judge  Turner  in  a  similar  spirit  ?  The 
zeal  of  his  successors  demonstrated,  as  the  evangelist  of  Naturalism 
lived  to  discover,  that  Turner's  subscription  to  the  faith  was  far  from 
whole-hearted.  Still  in  the  latest  sketch,  the  latest  plate,  the  ab- 
horred Academic  ideas  absorbed  in  his  youth  were  to  be  detected. 
But  the  world,  spell-bound  by  the  eloquence  of  the  gospel,  shut 
its  eyes  to  this,  and  laboriously  mended  with  the  clay  of  Turner  the 
road  along  which  British  Landscape  Art  still  stumbles,  her  conflicting 
supporters  for  ever  proclaiming  how  high  she  has  mounted,  how  low 
she  has  sunk,  since  the  day  when  he  was  made  one  with  Nature. 

C.  F.  Bell. 


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E7.  Drawn  by  J.  M.  W.  Turner,  after  a  Sketch  by  James  Ha'iewill,  Engraved  by  J.  Landseer,  1619 


E  12.  Drawn  by  Turner,  Engraved  by  J.  T.  Willmore  for  "Wanderings  by  the  Loire,"  1333 


CLAIRMONT 


From  a  Proof  m  the  Collection  of  W.  G.  Rawlmson,  Esq. 


E  13.  Drawn  by  Turner,  Engraved  by  R^Walhs  for  "  Wanderings  by  the  Loire,"  published  1333 


llll 


SOK\'!i  ON  THE  LOIRE 


From  a  Proof  in  the  Collection  of  W.  G.  Rawlinson,  Esq. 


E  14.  Drawn  by  Turner,  Engraved  by  W.  Miller,  1S33,  for  Sir  Walter  Scott's  Poetical  Works 


MELROSE  From  a  Proof  in  the  Collection  of  W.  G.  Rawlinson,  Esq. 


E  15.  Prawn  by  Turner,  after  a  Sketch  by  J.  Rich,  Engraved  by  W.  Radclyffe  for  Fmden's  "  Bibie  " 


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